On June 22, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission issued a proposed Made in USA Rule regarding when businesses can advertise that their products are made in the U.S., and giving the agency discretion to impose civil penalties.  The proposed rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register, but the agency has invited businesses to file public comments regarding their feedback.

Under the Rule, advertisers would be prohibited from making unqualified Made in USA claims unless the following three factors are met.  First, final assembly or processing of the product occurs in the United ...

On July 1, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered restaurants in nineteen California counties, including Los Angeles County, to cease indoor operations for at least three weeks, until July 22, 2020.

The nineteen counties affected by the Governor’s order represent 70% of the California population. They are Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura counties.

In addition to restaurants, the order requires that wineries ...

In his press conference today, July 1, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered restaurants in Los Angeles County and 18 other CA counties to cease indoor dining operations for at least the next 3 weeks. The order was in response to a large increase in COVID-19 positivity and hospitalizations in these counties.

Restaurants may remain open for outdoor dining, pick-up or delivery. On Sunday, June 28th, the State also ordered bars to close in Los Angeles and 6 other counties.

In addition to indoor dining, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, indoor family entertainment businesses ...

On June 28, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered that bars in seven California counties close. These counties are: Los Angeles, Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Tulare, Kings and Imperial. 

The state has also recommended, but not ordered that eight other counties issue local health orders closing bars: Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Stanislaus.

The order and recommendations are a result of an increase in new cases and hospitalizations across the state.

Following the order, the Los Angeles County Department of ...

Food manufacturers are playing a crucial role during the COVID-19 crisis by supporting various essential businesses and keeping products on the shelves for consumers. The pandemic has disrupted their day-to-day operations and required new protocols for sanitation, social distancing in the workplace, and the distribution of products that are high in demand. Additionally, food manufacturers are required to comply with strict labeling regulations designed to keep consumers fully informed about the contents of their food. These regulations required that manufacturers alter ...

Restaurants whose operations have been shut down due to the coronavirus crisis are looking to their business interruption or business income insurance policies for relief, and have found resistance from insurance companies paying these claims.

As a general matter, in order to trigger coverage those policies require (1) direct physical loss or damage; (2) to covered property: (3) arising from a covered peril; and (4) resulting in the suspension of the business’ operations.

In cases where coverage is triggered, an insured business may be entitled to recover the net income it would ...

California's Secretary of State announced that the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) has qualified for the state's November ballot. Real estate mogul, Alastair Mactaggart, has done it again.  After successfully getting the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) passed by Sacramento in record time for fear that the CCPA would be on the November 2018 ballot, Mactaggart has once again obtained the required 623,212 signatures to do the same with the CPRA in 2020. If passed, the CPRA would build on the underlying principles of the CCPA by permitting consumers to ...

California’s legislative season is in full swing, and the California State Assembly and State Senate are advancing bills that will affect the food, beverage, and hospitality industry, with a focus on the restaurant industry.

State legislators have shown an interest in regulating food delivery platforms. Several cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, have capped delivery fees that these platforms, including Grubhub, Door Dash, Uber Eats and Postmates, can charge restaurants at least for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Concerns have also been raised by ...

By January 1, 2021, California employers with five or more employees are required to have provided interactive harassment prevention training to all employees in California, both supervisory and non-supervisory. After considerable delay, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) recently released online training to meet the harassment training requirement for non-supervisors. The training is provided at no cost to employers. 

The non-supervisory online harassment prevention training can be found here. Online training for non-supervisors is ...

In a landmark 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States held that workplace discrimination on the basis of an employee’s LGBTQ status is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The Court’s opinion can be found here.

Until now, workers in more than half the states lacked legal protection from employment discrimination based on their LGBTQ status.  The Court’s decision rests on a strict reading of Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of “sex”.  It concludes that extending that “sex” prohibition to include discrimination on the ...