On September 15, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling regarding AB 51, the California law prohibiting employers from requiring employees or applicants to execute arbitration agreements waiving their right to sue under state ...
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Personnel Policies
Monitoring Employee Communications
Monitoring employee communications, especially instant messaging communications, is important to mitigate litigation risk. California’s discovery rules are broad, and allow discovery of any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the subject ...
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Employer Victory on Favorable Method for OT Calculations
A California Court of Appeal recently rebuffed a long-held Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) enforcement position on how overtime must be calculated for dual-rate employees, opening the door for use of the “rate-in-effect” method ...
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California Employers Permitted to Drop Mask Mandate for Vaccinated Workers
Changes to Emergency Temporary Standards to Take Effect Immediately
On June 17, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board held a special meeting to adopt yet further revisions to the existing Emergency Temporary Standards first ...
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Employers Must Provide Notice of Free COBRA Coverage
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) enacted in March 2021 provides up to 100% COBRA coverage for all individuals who have qualifying events, such as layoffs, during the pandemic. The government subsidy will reimburse the employer through tax credits ...
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California Mandates “Right to Recall” for Hospitality Employees
The Governor signed a bill on Friday, April 16, 2021, requiring certain employers who laid off workers during the pandemic to offer those workers available positions when jobs become available. Senate Bill 93 takes effect immediately and applies to ...
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New COVID Sick Leave Mandate Requires California Employers to Provide an Additional 80 Hours of Supplemental Paid Sick Leave
Introduced, passed by both houses, and signed by Governor Newsom all in the same week, SB 95 provides a new 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave for COVID-related purposes to virtually all California employees who work for employers with 25 or ...
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California Pay Data Reporting: New for 2021
On September 30, 2020 Governor Newsom signed SB 973 into law, which creates pay data reporting requirements for employers starting in March 2021 and annually thereafter. SB 973 will require private employers with 100 or more employees to submit an ...
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