The California Supreme Court has held that an employee who makes a whistleblower complaint to his or her employer may bring a retaliation claim under the whistleblower statute (California Labor Code § 1102.5(b)) even if the subject of the complaint was already known. Previous case law held that an employee whistleblower complaint regarding an alleged violation of the law that was already known to
A pair of recent studies reported here indicates that the pandemic-related remote workforce trend shows signs of reversal. According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, 72.5% of business establishments reported that their employees teleworked rarely or not at all in 2022. That number was 60.1% in 2021. A second survey conducted by economists found that in February 2023, businesses reported
Effective January 1, 2023, California employers will be required to meet new minimum wage requirements, at both the state and local level. This increase in the minimum wage affects not only non-exempt employees, but also the minimum annual salary requirement for overtime exempt employees.
Increase and Consolidation of the California Minimum Wage
Previously, the State of California employed a two-tiered minimum wage system, requiring employers
A new year brings new employment laws for California employers. California employers will want to begin revising employee policies and handbooks now, so that they are prepared to comply with these new laws when the majority of them go into effect on January 1, 2023. Here are five new employment laws that every California employer should know:
AB 1041 (Expanded Definition of “Family Member” for
As we previously reported here, in Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. v. Bonta, 13 F.4th 766 (9th Cir. 2021), a three member panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals resurrected California Labor Code Section 432.6, which prohibited employers from requiring California employees to agree to arbitrate their employment-related disputes.
In a new twist, however, the same Ninth Circuit
In Michelle Roman v. Hertz Local Edition Corp., a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of California granted summary judgment in favor of Hertz, and against former employee Michelle Roman, whose employment was terminated after she contracted COVID. Roman claimed that her job should have been protected by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) while she suffered from mild symptoms
A recent California Court of Appeal decision confirms that a California employer may be liable to an at-will employee who relocates to accept a new employment position, when the employer’s description of the kind or character of the job was misleading. In the case Kenneth Allen White v. Smule, Inc., the Court of Appeal reversed a trial court decision to grant summary judgment in
As we previously reported (here), Cal/OSHA’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (“OSHSB”) held a series of special meetings to revise its controversial Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. And, on June 17, 2021, OSHSB approved updated ETS language that more closely aligns California’s workplace safety requirements with recommendations from the CDC and California Department of Public Health.
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