Recently, the Los Angeles City Council approved a motion to amend the Living Wage Ordinance (LWO) and the Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance (HWMO), which will impact airport and hospitality workers, respectively. On...more
Voters in several states made decisions on key employment mandates on election day. These results will have significant implications for employers, particularly in terms of compliance and day-to-day operational issues. Below...more
California’s 2024 legislative session wrapped up with Governor Gavin Newsom signing significant bills affecting employers’ workplace policies and operations in the state. The new laws below take effect on Jan. 1, 2025....more
10/9/2024
/ California ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Driver's Licenses ,
Employment Discrimination ,
FEHA ,
Freelance Workers ,
Job Ads ,
Jury Duty ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Race Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Wage and Hour
On September 22, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 3234 into law which imposes more transparency requirements for employers that audit their child labor practices. The bill will take effect on...more
As kids head back to school, California employees with children may need time off for various reasons from school-related activities to kids who are sick. Here are reminders of the California leave entitlements for parents...more
California’s pro-employee employment regulations are often compared to those of the European Union. Recently, the California legislature borrowed another European idea for a proposed bill, “the right to disconnect from work.”...more
Under the California Wage Theft Protection Act (Cal. Labor Code section 2810.5), all employers are required to provide each employee with a written notice containing specified information at the time of hire, including wage...more
California’s 2023 legislative session ended on October 14, 2023, with a slew of new bills affecting employers. Governor Gavin Newsom signed more than 30 employment-related bills.
Highlights of the new laws affecting...more
10/20/2023
/ Cal-OSHA ,
California ,
Cannabis Products ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Employment Contract ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
FEHA ,
Healthcare Workers ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Violence
On October 4, 2023, California’s Governor signed Senate Bill (SB) 616, which increases the amount of paid sick leave employers are required to provide to California employees.
Beginning on January 1, 2024, employers must...more
The COVID-19 State of Emergency may be over but many employers are still feeling the economic effects of the pandemic. In 2022, when COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) was extended for the final time, the...more
As the final tally of ballots comes in for many electoral races across the country, the outcomes of the various state ballot measures that were also part of the Nov. 8 midterm elections could require changes to employers’...more
On September 29, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, which amends the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to require covered employers to provide eligible employees with 5 days of...more
California has extended COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) through December 31, 2022. On September 29, 2022, California’s Governor signed Assembly Bill (AB) 152 which amends the existing SPSL law and provides for...more
California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program, which is administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD) provides eligible employees with up to 8 weeks of wage replacement benefits when an employee is off work for...more
Under California Labor Code 2802, employers are required to reimburse employees for necessary expenses incurred in executing their job duties for their employer. This reimbursement requirement may apply to the use of the...more
Early in the 2022 Legislative Session, Assembly Bill (AB) 2932 was introduced and was known as the four-day workweek bill. It sought to change when an employee would be paid one and one-half times their regular rate of pay...more
On the anniversary of California’s statewide shelter-in-place orders, Governor Newsom signed legislation bringing back the statewide COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave.
The new statute requires employers to display a...more
California currently has a patchwork of local COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave ordinances which remain in effect in 2021. But what about employers that are not located in those localities with a supplemental paid sick...more
State laws will have a real and immediate impact on the workplace, regardless of who wins the White House. Issues including minimum wage, family leave and pay equity are traditionally legislated by state and local...more
11/12/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Sick Leave ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
California has closed a busy legislative session with more than 30 laws relevant to employers being signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The 2020 session was influenced by the difficult events of 2020, from the COVID-19 pandemic...more
10/6/2020
/ Cal-OSHA ,
Diversity ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Governor Newsom ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Written Notice
In 2018, California law extended anti-harassment training requirements to employers with 5 employees or more and mandated that non-supervisors also receive such training, in addition to supervisors. The original deadline for...more
8/27/2020
/ Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DFEH ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Minimum Wage ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
As 2019 comes to a close, here is a look ahead to some of the legislation going into effect on January 1, 2020, that affects employers in California.
Independent Contractors-
Assembly Bill 5 codifies and clarifies the...more
12/30/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Organ Donation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
A new California law, Senate Bill 142 (“SB 142”), effective January 1, 2020, expands on existing Labor Code requirements for employee lactation accommodations and provides significant new consequences to employers for...more
With the future of the EEOC’s pay data collection efforts unclear, California’s effort to legislate its own race- and sex-based pay data reporting requirements likewise has stalled, for now.
Since July, California’s Senate...more
On August 30, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 778, which amends Section 12950.1 of the California Government Code. SB 778 extends California employers’ obligation from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021,...more