On October 10, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 142 into law, which expands California employers’ obligations to accommodate employees who need to express breastmilk during the workday, most notably by adding a number of new requirements for the lactation space itself. The bill also establishes significant penalties…
On October 1, 2019, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Salazar v. McDonalds Corp. that McDonald’s was not a “joint employer” of 1,400 employees who worked at various Bay Area McDonald’s restaurants owned and operated by the Haynes Family Limited Partnership (“Haynes”). As a result,…
On October 10, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 9 into law. AB 9 extends the deadline for employees to file a charge of employment discrimination, harassment, or retaliation with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) from 1 year to 3 years. The new deadline is…
Employment practices liability insurance (“EPLI”) policies often contain explicit language that excludes from coverage or defense claims that are based on any federal or state wage-and-hour laws. Recently, the California Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal gave employers a glimmer of hope – and an incentive to push back…
On September 13, 2019, the California Senate and Assembly unanimously passed AB 25, amending the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). Governor Newsom signed AB 25 into law on October 11, 2019. This amendment places serious obligations on certain employers to protect the private data of employees, and grants…
Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed AB 1554 into law, which requires California employers who offer their employees Flexible Spending Accounts (“FSAs”) to provide their workers with two separate notices reminding them that they must use the funds in their FSAs before the end of the plan year or…
In the employment context, an arbitration agreement is a contract between an employer and an employee in which the parties agree to resolve disputes in front of an arbitrator rather than in civil court. These agreements are often standard in new hire paperwork. Employers like arbitration because it…
On September 18, 2019, Governor Newsom signed AB 5 into law and, in the process, fundamentally changed the California economy by making it even harder for a business to qualify a worker as an independent contractor. The Dynamex Decision As readers of this blog know, in May 2018…
As we blogged about previously here, since January 1, 2019 California law has required employers with 5 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of classroom or other interactive sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees and 1 hour of classroom or other interactive sexual harassment…
California’s anti-SLAPP statute allows a defendant to bring a special motion to strike any cause of action in a plaintiff’s lawsuit that arises from “any act of that person in furtherance of the person’s right of petition or free speech under the United States Constitution or the California…