Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 1350, which expands the definition of employment to include some household domestic employees who work through agencies. SB 1350 will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Historically, the definition of “employment” for purposes of California’s Occupational Safety and Health Act excluded all household domestic service employees. These employees were therefore not provided with health and safety protections by Cal-OSHA. SB 1350 expands the definition of “employment” to include household domestic service performed on a ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its long-awaited final guidance on harassment claims this year, which went into immediate effect.  Per EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows, the final guidance, the EEOC’s first update on the subject in roughly 25 years, in intended to act as a “comprehensive resource” regarding “best practices for preventing and remedying harassment” as well as clarifying recent legal developments on the subject.

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws banning discrimination against a worker or job applicant on the basis of a ...

Los Angeles County:

In 2016, the city of Los Angeles passed the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO).  Preempting California’s Fair Chance Act (FCA) by nearly two years, the FCIHO prohibits private employers operating in the city of Los Angeles from inquiring into a job applicant’s criminal history on job applications or postings.  The first instance in which such an inquiry can be made is after a conditional offer of employment is extended.  An employer that wishes to withdraw an offer of employment based on criminal history must first engage in a defined “Fair ...

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 ...