The trend of increasing minimum wage rates will continue in 2025. We previously reported here the California 2025 state and local minimum wage rate increases.  The federal contractor minimum wage rates will likewise continue on an upward trajectory, as follows: on January 1, 2025, the hourly minimum wage for certain existing federal contracts will increase from $17.20 to $17.75.  This minimum wage rate will apply to both non-tipped and tipped workers, as the lower cash wage that contractors had been permitted to pay tipped workers was eliminated on January 1, 2024.

Covered contracts ...

In 2022, Congress enacted the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act” (the “Act”) which provides that, at the election of the person alleging conduct constituting a sexual harassment dispute or sexual assault dispute, “no predispute arbitration agreement or predispute joint-action waiver shall be valid or enforceable with respect to a case which is filed under Federal, Tribal, or State law and relates to the sexual assault dispute or the sexual harassment dispute.”  (9 U.S.C. § 402, emphasis added).  

In two recent cases, Doe v ...

Effective January 1, 2025, companies using freelance workers must comply with the Freelance Worker Protection Act (“FWPA”). FWPA was signed by Governor Newsom on September 28, 2024 as Senate Bill (“SB”) 988. FWPA passed with a 70-0 vote in the State Assembly and a 34-3 vote in the State Senate.

According to a press release by one of the bill’s authors, State Senator Scott Weiner, freelance workers make up 39 percent of the total U.S. workforce and contribute $1.35 trillion to the economy. Additionally, only 25 percent of freelance workers reported having written ...

California law has long held that an employer’s good faith dispute over wages owed, if any, to its employees will preclude the imposition of “waiting time” penalties otherwise due following the termination of their employment.  This year, employers received a rare, gift-wrapped ruling that expanded this maxim.

In Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., the California Supreme Court resolved a split in judicial opinion regarding whether a similar good faith belief could negate penalties under Labor Code section 226 for knowingly and intentionally failing to report ...

Effective January 1, 2025, the California Department of Industrial Relations has issued a new compensation threshold for exempt computer software employees, reflecting an increase of 2.5% from last year. 

To qualify for the overtime exemption, computer software employees must be paid a salary of at least $118,657.43 annually ($9.888.13 monthly), or an hourly wage of at least $56.97.  In addition, a computer software employee must also meet the duties test set forth in California Labor Code Section 515.5, which are also included in all Wage Orders except Orders 14 and 16. 

More ...

In 2003, the California Supreme Court adopted a stringent test to determine whether an employer had waived its right to compel arbitration of an employee’s claims.  The most critical, and often determinative, factor was “prejudice” to the party resisting arbitration.  In other words, the courts were obligated to determine whether the party resisting arbitration had been prejudiced by the other party’s behavior – typically manifested through inordinate delay or litigation gamesmanship.

The facts in the recent case of Quach v. California Commerce Club, Inc., in which ...

What goes up continues to go up!  As we pointed out here last year, the trend of increasing the minimum wage continues, as follows:

State:

On January 1, 2025, the California state minimum wage, excluding fast food industry employers and certain healthcare facilities, will increase from $16.00 per hour to $16.50 for employers of all sizes, reflecting a 3.1% increase, which is based on the expected rate of inflation.  The state minimum wage also governs the exempt employee threshold salary, which will increase accordingly.  The new minimum salary for employees who otherwise qualify to be ...

California recently enacted a new law which generally prohibits employers from including statements in job advertisements, postings, applications, or other materials that an applicant must have a driver's license.  Effective January 1, 2025, Senate Bill 1100 amends the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to include this prohibition against requiring a driver’s license in employer materials, unless the employer can meet both of two conditions.

Specifically, in order for an employer’s pre-employment materials to include that an applicant must have a ...

After a contentious six-hour meeting, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 in favor of increasing the hourly wage of approximately 23,000 hotel and LAX workers to $30. The $30 minimum wage will go into effect in by July 2028, when the city will host the Summer Olympics.

The $30 minimum wage campaign, also known as the Olympic wage campaign, has been spearheaded by Unite Here Local 11 and the Service Employees International Union. Both unions have been heavily involved with local and statewide lobbying for higher minimum wages in several different industries. Both unions also ...

A new California law will prohibit employers from requiring that an employee take earned vacation before receiving paid family leave (PFL) benefits.  Effective January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill 2123 amends the Unemployment Insurance Code, which previously allowed employers to require employees to exhaust up to two weeks of accrued but unused vacation leave as a condition of an employee’s initial receipt of these benefits.  For any period of disability commencing on or after January 1, 2025, an employer can no longer impose such a condition.

The state provides PFL benefits to eligible ...

Effective January 1, 2025, AB 2299 draws attention to the importance that California places on whistleblower rights by requiring the Labor Commissioner to develop a model list of employees’ rights and responsibilities under California’s whistleblower laws.  Employers must prominently display this model or similar poster in the workplace that will satisfy the preexisting requirement to display a list of employees’ rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws.  The posting must also include the Attorney General’s 1-800-9520-5225 whistleblower hotline.  ...

California recently enacted new requirements concerning the notice employers must give their employees regarding workers’ compensation matters.  Effective January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill 1870 amends Labor Code section 3550 to require employers to advise their employees of the right to consult a licensed attorney regarding any worker’s compensation claim who will be paid from an injured employee’s recovery in most instances.

Currently, the California Labor Code requires employers to conspicuously post a notice that includes specific information regarding worker’s ...

Live events are part and parcel of California’s landscape.  From Coachella to county fairs, thousands of workers each year participate in setting up and tearing down the infrastructure at these public event venues.  Widely reported tragedies related to this work in years’ past, combined with the temporary nature of these entertainment events, have prompted the California legislature to promulgate additional protections for this class of workers through the recently enacted Assembly Bill 2738.

Effective immediately, as part of the contract for production of any live event at ...

California has a habit of finding creative ways to protect employees from potential instances of discrimination or retaliation, no matter how remote.  Senate Bill 399, pointedly titled the “California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act” (“SB 399”), furthers this tradition by prohibiting employers from subjecting an employee to, or threatening an employee with, discharge, discrimination, or retaliation because the employee declines to attend a mandatory employer-sponsored meeting or otherwise refuses to listen to the employer’s communications ...

Governor Newsom recently signed an amendment to the CROWN Act (which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair”) extending the Act’s reach.  Specifically, the amendment, Assembly Bill 1815, makes two key changes.  First, it amends the Unruh Civil Rights Act to now include the CROWN Act.  Second, it amends key definitions in the CROWN Act to eliminate prior ambiguities.

Originally enacted in 2019, the CROWN Act is intended to prevent discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles associated with race in the workplace and public schools.  ...