On September 28, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 2992, which significantly expands the circumstances under which protected leave is available to California employees who are victims of crime or abuse. California law already requires all employers to grant protected leave (meaning the employer cannot discharge, discriminate against, or retaliate against an employee… Read More
Court of Appeals Confirms That Arbitration Agreements Won’t Protect Employers from PAGA Litigation
California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) authorizes aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for violations of the California Labor Code. Lawsuits brought under PAGA have resulted in employers paying millions of dollars in penalties that the state almost certainly would not have… Read More
Governor Newsom Expands COVID-19 Leave Entitlements for Many California Workers
On September 9, 2020, Governor Newsom signed AB 1867 into law, which, in part, supplements the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) enacted earlier this year. (For background on the FFCRA, see our previous blog posts here, here, and here). Specifically, AB 1867 creates Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“SPSL”) rights for millions of California… Read More
The DOL Announces New Guidance on COVID-19 Federal Paid Leave Laws
On April 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that it was ending its temporary period of non-enforcement of the paid leave protections established by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) and issued additional guidance regarding the operation of the paid leave provisions of the new law. The End of Non-Enforcement The… Read More
San Francisco Enacts Paid Leave Law for Employees at Large Companies
On April 17, 2020, Mayor London Breed signed the San Francisco Public Health Emergency Leave Ordinance (“PHELO”), which was previously passed by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors on April 14, 2020. The PHELO became effective immediately, and San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (“OLSE”) issued guidelines regarding its provisions the very next day. The… Read More
The Federal CARES Act Provides Some Relief for Small Businesses Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic
On March 27, 2020, Congress voted to enact The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on the same day. The CARES Act is the most recent in a wave of federal legislation passed in an effort to counter the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic…. Read More
U.S. Department of Labor Issues Guidance on the FFCRA
As we discussed in a previous blog post which you can find here, the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) created two new paid leave entitlements employees working in companies with fewer than 500 employees. We are referring to these new entitlements as Emergency FMLA Leave and Emergency Paid Sick Leave, respectively. Since the… Read More
New Guidance On Paid Sick Leave for San Francisco Employees
On March 24, 2020, the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (“OLSE”) issued guidance regarding how employees can use paid sick leave they have accrued pursuant to San Francisco’s local ordinance during the local health emergency San Francisco is experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance Under the San… Read More
The “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” Creates Two New Kinds of Paid Leave
On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) into law. This post is focused on two provisions that will be of particular importance to employers. EMERGENCY EXPANSION OF THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT Under a portion of the FFCRA called The Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act… Read More
The Coronavirus Pandemic — What Employers Need to Know
The novel coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) is impacting nearly every facet of daily life in most California communities, and employers are struggling to balance the competing interests of protecting their employees and their businesses while also doing their part to halt the spread of this highly contagious virus. On top of that difficult balancing,… Read More
