In a continuing effort to combat pay discrimination, Governor Jerry Brown recently signed AB 168 into law. Beginning January 1, 2018, all California employers are prohibited from seeking, by any means, salary history from an...more
10/23/2017
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
California Legislative and Agency Update -
Read about the latest California cities to increase hourly minimum wages, newly expanded transgender protections, criminal background check limitations and other changes in...more
8/18/2017
/ Breastfeeding ,
Day of Rest Laws ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
DFEH ,
Domestic Violence ,
Employment Litigation ,
FEHA ,
Freelance Isn't Free Act (FIFA) ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
LGBTQ ,
Local Ordinance ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Harassment Guidance
California Legislative Update -
In the latter half of 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed numerous bills into law. Below is a summary of those laws that will affect California employers in 2017 and...more
1/21/2017
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
Cell Phones ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Collective Actions ,
Company Vehicles ,
Computer Software Workers ,
Criminal Records ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Domestic Violence ,
Drivers ,
EEO-1 ,
Employee Restrooms ,
Employment Contract ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Governor Brown ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Injunctions ,
Juveniles ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mental Health ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
NLRB ,
No-Poaching ,
Notice Requirements ,
NYDOL ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
On-Duty Meal Period Waivers ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Parental Leave ,
Payroll Records ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
Ridesharing ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
State-Run Retirement Plans ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Venue ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements ,
Wage-Fixing ,
White-Collar Exemptions
2016 brought several employment law developments that will undoubtedly affect your workplace. The Fenwick & West Employment Practices Group invites you to attend its annual complimentary briefing to learn more about the most...more
12/12/2016
/ Arbitration ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Events ,
LGBTQ ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Separation Agreement ,
Sick Leave ,
Social Media Policy ,
Unfair Competition ,
Wage and Hour
On November 22, 2016, a federal district court in Texas preliminarily enjoined the Department of Labor (DOL) from enforcing portions of its rule increasing the federal minimum salary for exempt executive, administrative, and...more
11/29/2016
/ Balance of Harships ,
Barack Obama ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Imminent Harm ,
Lack of Authority ,
Likelihood of Success ,
Minimum Salary ,
Over-Time ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Public Interest ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
If you have not audited your exempt employee pay practices for compliance with the federal Department of Labor’s rules announced earlier this year, you have just under two weeks to do so. Starting December 1, 2016, the...more
11/18/2016
/ Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Internal Audit Functions ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Mandatory employment arbitration agreements suffered a significant blow last week, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (covering California, Washington, and other western states) found illegal and...more
Last week, the federal Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced its long-awaited final rule increasing the minimum salary requirements for certain exempt workers. The DOL announced its final rule on May 18, 2016, and the rule...more
Apple Inc. recently convinced a California federal district court to dismiss a certified class action alleging that Apple had a legal duty to pay store workers for time spent on bag checks at the end of shifts....more
Bag Checks for Apple Employees Not Compensable Time -
Apple Inc. recently convinced a California federal district court to dismiss a certified class action alleging that Apple had a legal duty to pay store workers for...more
12/22/2015
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Class Members ,
Compensation ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Legal Ethics ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Summary Judgment ,
Wage and Hour
Governor Brown recently signed into state law the following employment law bills (among others):
SB 358—Referred to as the California Fair Pay Act, this law is directed at closing the pay differential between male and...more
In Sakkab v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc., the Ninth Circuit affirmed the California Supreme Court’s Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC decision (originally summarized in our June 2012 issue), which held...more
A California Court of Appeal in Cardenas v. M. Fanaian, D.D.S., Inc. held that Labor Code § 1102.5, which protects employees from retaliation for reporting illegal conduct to law enforcement agencies, applies to an employee’s...more
Legislative Update -
Governor Brown recently signed into state law the following employment law bills (among others):
SB 358—Referred to as the California Fair Pay Act, this law is directed at closing the pay...more
10/26/2015
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Background Checks ,
Chipotle Grill ,
Class Action ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employment Application ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Governor Brown ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Code ,
Misclassification ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Legislation ,
Over-Time ,
Preemption ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remand ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Substantially Similar ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Void and Unenforceable ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements ,
Waivers ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
In addition to AB 465, California employers should watch for Governor Jerry Brown’s actions as to the following employment-related bills:
SB 358: The California Fair Pay Act is directed at closing the pay differential...more
In late August, the California Senate and Assembly passed AB 465, which, if signed by Governor Jerry Brown, will make pre-employment mandatory agreements to arbitrate Labor Code violations against California public policy...more
California Legislature Acts to Outlaw Pre-Employment Mandatory Agreements to Arbitrate Labor Code Claims -
In late August, the California Senate and Assembly passed AB 465, which, if signed by Governor Jerry Brown, will...more
9/24/2015
/ Advance Notice ,
Ban the Box ,
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Governor Brown ,
Health Insurance ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Premiums ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Sick Leave ,
Unpaid Trainee
This month, the California Legislature enacted AB 304, an urgency measure that became effective on July 13 and provides much needed clarity on various aspects of California’s mandatory paid sick leave law (Healthy Workplaces,...more
The federal Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a proposed rule to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act’s white-collar employee exemptions (i.e., executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer...more
New Amendments Clarify California Paid Sick Leave -
This month, the California Legislature enacted AB 304, an urgency measure that became effective on July 13 and provides much needed clarity on various aspects of...more
7/28/2015
/ Accrued Benefits ,
Administrative Interpretation ,
Credit Checks ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
DLSE ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act 2014 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Leave ,
Primary Beneficiary Test ,
Sick Leave ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Federal anti-discrimination laws (“Title VII”) prohibit an employer from refusing to hire a candidate to avoid accommodating a suspected, but unconfirmed religious practice, according to a recent United States Supreme Court...more
6/26/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Disparate Treatment ,
Dress Codes ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Clothing ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII
Federal white collar exemptions: According to the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) most recent Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, proposed rules revising the regulations implementing the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) are...more
Employer’s Motive, Not Confirmed Knowledge Of Accommodation Need, Is Basis Of Religious Accommodation Violation -
Federal anti-discrimination laws (“Title VII”) prohibit an employer from refusing to hire a candidate to...more
6/24/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Ban the Box ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dress Codes ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employee Restrooms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Joint Employers ,
Misclassification ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Clothing ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour
In Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC, the United States Supreme Court held that the conciliation efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are subject to judicial review, although such review is limited to ensure...more
The California Supreme Court in Williams v. Chino Valley Independent Fire District affirmed the asymmetrical nature of litigation costs awards in discrimination lawsuits under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act...more