Kelly O. Scott, Partner and head of Ervin Cohen & Jessup’s Employment Law Department, was recently quoted in the Law360 article entitled, “Hair Bias Bans Mean Employer Grooming Rules Need Review.” The article takes a closer look at the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), which was signed into California law on July 3, 2019, by Governor Gavin Newsom. California and New York, which enacted a similar law, became the first two states to recognize the connection between racial discrimination and policies that limit appearances, including natural ...

Krista Townley was a server at BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. As a server, Townley was required to wear black, slip-resistant close-toed shoes pursuant to company policy.  Townley purchased a pair of canvas shoes that complied with the policy.  She was not reimbursed by BJ’s. What happened next?  You guessed it: Townley filed a class and representative action under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (Lab. Code, § 2698 et seq.) which sought civil penalties on behalf of herself and other "aggrieved employees" for Labor Code violations.

In her lawsuit, Townley claimed that an ...

Does your business collect personal information from California residents?  A person’s name, address, email address, social security number, and driver’s license number are all considered personal information. What about digital information? Does your website track consumers’ browsing histories, search histories, or their interactions with your website or digital advertisements? How about information related to a consumer’s employment history or education? All of the aforementioned are deemed to constitute personal information under the California Consumer ...

Beginning as early as June 30, 2020, California employers with 5 or more California-based employees not already offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan will have to begin offering a retirement savings program, either through the private market or by facilitating access to CalSavers, the state-run program.

The CalSavers program, established under SB 1234 in 2012, is intended to assist the estimated 7.5 million California employees without employer retirement savings plans. A pilot program was undertaken in late 2018, and beginning July 1, 2019, eligible ...

Employers with at least 100 employees, and federal contractors with contract of at least $50,000 and 50 or more employees, are well aware of the EEO-1 report requirement. EEO-1 reports are due on March 31 of each year and include data on employee race/ethnicity and gender, called “Component 1” data.  Component 1 data is submitted through a web portal maintained by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and is used by the EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to gauge compliance with federal equal opportunity laws. This year’s deadline was extended ...

As required by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), the California Attorney General’s Office (the “AG”) is hard at work crafting regulations related to the CCPA to be implemented by July 1, 2020.  The CCPA will go into effect on January 1, 2020, but the AG’s enforcement will not be initiated until later that year.  In the meantime, consumers and businesses alike are anxiously awaiting the AG’s first draft of the regulations.  The AG’s regulations are intended to clarify certain ambiguities in the CCPA and outline and implement rules for businesses to ...

Q: I am a receiver in a Ponzi scheme case. While I know I can sue to recover excess payments made to investors in the scheme, the false profit they were paid, per Donell v. Kowell, 533 F3d 762 (9th Cir. 2008), in my case large sums were paid as referral or broker fees to get investors to invest. Are those payments recoverable in the Ninth Circuit?

A: Yes. While there has been split in cases across the county on the issue, the majority view has been such payments are fraudulent transfers, because no “value” is given for the services rendered. Compare, Warfield v. Byron, 436 F3d 551, 560 (5th Cir ...

On July 3, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 188, the Crown Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair).

The text of the law includes an explanation for its purpose. In pertinent part, SB 188 states that the “history of our nation is riddled with laws and societal norms that equated ‘blackness,’ and the associated physical traits, for example, dark skin, kinky and curly hair to a badge of inferiority, sometimes subject to separate and unequal treatment.” It goes on to state that the societal understanding of “professionalism was, and ...

On July 1st, the City of Los Angeles will raise the minimum wage for employers with at least 26 employees to $14.25, and for employers with fewer than 26 employees to $13.25.

In determining whether this increase applies to a particular employee, employers should know that it is not where an employee lives, nor where an employer is based, that determines the minimum wage that must be paid.  Rather, it is where the employee works that matters.  All employees working in a particular week for at least 2 hours within the City of Los Angeles are entitled to payment of the applicable minimum wage under ...

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) recently issued a new Certification of Health Care Provider form that employers may use for medical certification when an employee requests leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), due to the employee’s or the employee’s family member’s serious health condition.

This form is particularly useful to California employers for the reason that, unlike the Department of Labor FMLA health care provider certification forms, the DFEH form excludes questions ...