Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 1350, which expands the definition of employment to include some household domestic employees who work through agencies. SB 1350 will go into effect on July 1, 2025....more
Effective January 1, 2025, companies using freelance workers must comply with the Freelance Worker Protection Act (“FWPA”). FWPA was signed by Governor Newsom on September 28, 2024 as Senate Bill (“SB”) 988. FWPA passed with...more
On March 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) revised independent contractor test took effect, under a Final Rule issued by the Wage and House Division of DOL. The rule for Employee or Independent Contractor...more
Commencing on June 1, 2024, Senate Bill 525 will raise the minimum wage for covered health care workers at covered health care facilities in California....more
As reported here, California recently took steps to provide employers additional tools to combat workplace violence, including requiring a written workplace violence prevention plan, by enacting Senate Bill 553. Effective...more
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, California enacted a temporary right to recall for hospitality employees, codified as Labor Code section 2810.8. This law covers laid-off employees who were employed for the...more
California Senate Bill (“SB”) 848, which becomes effective on January 1, 2024, entitles employees to five days of leave following a reproductive loss event. SB 848 adds section 12945.6 to the Government Code and applies to...more
After years of debate, and a looming referendum, a compromise between labor and business representatives has resulted in a final law regulating the fast-food industry. On September 28, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom...more
On September 11, 2023, industry, government, and union representatives announced that they had reached a deal to remove a California referendum on the Fast Food Accountability and Standards (“FAST”) Recovery Act from the 2024...more
On July 21, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order denying Domino Pizza’s motion to compel arbitration in a putative class action brought by plaintiff Dominos truck...more
8/2/2023
/ Amazon ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Dominos ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Interstate Commerce ,
State Labor Laws
The Court of Appeal of the State of California recently held in Thai v. IBM, A165390, that employers are obligated to reimburse expenses incurred by employees working from home if those expenses are a consequence of the...more
On December 30, 2022, Judge Shelleyanne Chang of the Superior Court of Sacramento issued a temporary restraining order to block adoption of the FAST Act, which was due to take effect on January 1.
The Save Local...more
In response to recent Supreme Court decisions and laws in other states outlawing abortion, California passed a number of new laws designed to protect reproductive rights in the state. These include bills to prohibit a person...more
12/29/2022
/ Abortion ,
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
New Legislation ,
Reproductive Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws
On September 27, 2022, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 1162, which requires employers with more than 15 employees to post salary scales with every job posting and to disclose the pay scale for a position held by an...more
On September 5, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 257, a controversial and far-reaching law that will have a major impact on California fast food employers and is likely to shape the way the state regulates...more
9/13/2022
/ Advisory Board ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Rights ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Food Service Workers ,
Franchises ,
Governor Newsom ,
Popular ,
SEIU ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On May 12, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California’s minimum wage is projected to increase to $15.50 per hour for all workers beginning on January 1, 2023. The accelerated increase is required by Section 246 of...more
On January 1, 2022, leave under the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) will be expanded to provide employees with up to twelve weeks of job-protected leave to provide care to a parent-in-law with a serious medical...more
Senate Bill 807, which becomes effective January 1, 2022, will extend the period in which employers must retain personnel records for applicants and employees from 2 years to 4 years from the date the records were created or...more
On January 1, 2023, Senate Bill 62, the Garment Worker Protection Act, will become effective, making California the first state to ban piece rate pay for garment workers. SB 62 prohibits any “employee engaged in the...more
12/3/2021
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fashion Industry ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Manufacturers ,
Manufacturing Employers ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Retailers ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On March 19, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 95 providing a new form of COVID-19 related paid sick leave for many California workers. The law will become effective on March 29, 2021, and applies...more
3/24/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Governor Newsom ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Quarantine ,
Retroactive Application ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Supplemental Benefits ,
Tax Credits ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements
On February 5, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) published two notices of proposed ruling to delay the effective date of two rules finalized by the DOL under the Trump Administration regarding tips and independent...more
2/18/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Independent Contractors ,
Notice and Comment ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
State Labor Laws ,
Time Extensions ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Tipped Employees
On November 4, 2020, Uber, Lyft and Door Dash secured a victory in their expensive campaign to categorize app-based drivers as independent contractors. 55% of California voters voted in favor of Proposition 22, which means...more
12/2/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Borello Test ,
Delivery Drivers ,
DoorDash ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lyft ,
New Legislation ,
Restaurant Industry ,
State Labor Laws ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
On September 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB-685, which creates new COVID-19 reporting requirements for employers, increases mandatory public disclosure of COVID-19 outbreaks, and expands the powers of...more