California Labor & Employment Law

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New California anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, and pregnancy disability leave regulations go into effect on April 1, 2016.  The substantive law regarding these issues has not changed.  However, the new amendments enumerate detailed requirements regarding anti-harassment policies and investigations, and institute additional notice and recordkeeping requirements.

Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Regulations

The new anti-discrimination and harassment regulations clarify an employer’s duty to take reasonable steps to prevent discriminatory…

On October 23, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California largely denied a motion to dismiss a whistleblower retaliation claim brought by a company’s former general counsel, ruling that: (i) the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) and Dodd-Frank anti-retaliation provisions provide for individual liability against board members; and (ii) the Dodd-Frank anti-retaliation provision protects internal whistleblowers (i.e., a whistleblower who did not complain…

The latest legislative session has just ended, and, true to form, the California Legislature has added more than a dozen new laws affecting employers doing business in the nation’s largest state.  These statutes are in addition to the other six new laws that we reported on in September:

  • Signed legislation:
    • Sick Leave: Accrual And Limitations Language Clarified (AB 304)
    • Employers Prohibited From Using E-Verify

…

It is no secret that California is no friend to arbitration agreements. As the United States Supreme Court noted in its 2011 opinion in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, “California’s courts have been more likely to hold contracts to arbitrate unconscionable than other contracts,” despite directives from the High Court that arbitration agreements must be placed “upon the same footing as other contracts.”

Not to be outdone by the courts, the California Legislature decided to weigh in on the ongoing battle over arbitration agreements with the introduction of Assembly Bill 465 (“AB 465”) earlier this year.

We recently held a webinar titled California’s New Paid Sick Leave Law: Are you Ready for the Big Changes Ahead? to help prepare employers for California’s new paid sick leave law.  More than 400 people registered for the webinar, and we received well over 100 participant questions.

We realized that everyone — including those who could not attend the presentation — would benefit from viewing the questions and our responses. The full Q&A follows.

The Chamber of Commerce has just released its preliminary list of “job killer” bills that have been proposed in the California Legislature. Don’t forget that California remains tied with Louisiana for the fourth highest rate of unemployment in the country at 6.7%.

This year’s list identifies 16 proposed laws, including four new “Increased Labor Costs” mandates and one “Increased Unnecessary Litigation Costs” mandate, which…

On January 20, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari filed in CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC v. Iskanian, a case in which the California Supreme Court held that waivers of employees’ right to bring representative actions under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) are unenforceable under state law. You may read our previous post on the Iskanian decision…

San Francisco recently enacted two sweeping ordinances that are being referred to as the “Retail Workers Bill of Rights” (you can find the ordinances here and here). The new laws impose strict new requirements on retail employers and establishments in the City of San Francisco. While the ordinances became effective on January 5, 2015, employers will have until July 3, 2015 to comply. Below…

California continues to be perhaps the most pro-employee state in the country and is well known for its ever more restrictive labor and employment laws. Here is an interesting recent blog post by The Federalist (“The Eight Most Horrible Features of California Labor Law”) that describes some of the Golden State’s more problematic employment restrictions and helps explain the “Flight to Texas” that is occurring…