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, only Haynes – and not McDonald’s Corp…. Read More
Posts Categorized In: Employment Law Advice & Counsel
California Consumer Privacy Act Brings New Employer Obligations
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 employees the right to statutory damages for… Read More
New Employer Notification Obligations for FSA Accounts
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 the funds will expire. Currently, federal law… Read More
Attracting and Keeping Millennial Employees
The tech boom seems to have brought about a major shift in what employees and candidates expect from their (prospective) employers. According to a February 2019 CNBC article, this is especially true amongst millennials. On one hand, employers—particularly those within the tech realm—are offering an increasing number of “work perks,” while, on the other hand,… Read More
Three New Cases on the Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements
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 is considered to be more efficient and… Read More
Governor Newsom Signs AB 5 and Codifies Dynamex’s “ABC Test” for Independent Contractors
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 the California Supreme Court, in its landmark… Read More
The Importance of an Inclusive Workplace
What? Inclusion is a pillar of a functional workplace. It manifests on many levels, from meetings to policies to seemingly insignificant day-to-day workplace banter. As the boss, it is ultimately your responsibility to create an inclusive space on all levels, for all demographics that comprise your team. A good first step is to clearly define… Read More
Governor Newsom Signs SB 778 — New Harassment Training Deadline
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 training to all non-supervisory employees in California…. Read More
Human Trafficking Training Required by End of 2019
By year end of 2019, California hotel and motel employers must train all of their employees about human trafficking – to raise awareness, teach employees how to spot victims, and provide guidance on what to do to help. As we pointed out in our January 2019 blog about new California employment laws, SB-970 mandates that… Read More
Heads Up — July 1 Minimum Wage Increases
If you do business in any of the cities below, be sure that as of July 1, 2019, you began paying any minimum wage employees at the current increased rates. If you use a payroll service, they likely notified you and took care of it. But if you handle your own payroll in-house, make sure… Read More