The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued its first enforcement guidance on employment-related retaliation in almost 20 years. The Final Guidance is in response to numerous court rulings on retaliation and the almost doubling of EEOC charges claiming retaliation, making retaliation the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination in the workplace.

The Final Guidance applies to retaliation under Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws including: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation  Act,  the Age Discrimination in ...

Consistent with a national trend, the Los Angeles City Council’s Economic Development Committee voted last week in favor of a new law prohibiting most employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s possible criminal history until an initial job offer is made and allowing applicants to appeal an adverse decision.  The proposed law, known as the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring (Ban the Box), will next be heard by the Entertainment and Facilities Committee and if approved, would then be considered by the full City Council.

Referred to as a “ban the box” law, the ...

On January 1, 2017, the City of San Francisco’s paid parental leave ordinance becomes effective for employers with 50 or more employees.  These employers will be required to pay the difference between a new parent’s weekly wage and benefits paid from California’s Paid Family Leave Program for 6 weeks, almost doubling the amount they were eligible to receive under the PFL program.  The law becomes effective for employers with 35 or more employees on July 1, 2017, and on January 1, 2018 for employers with 20 or more employees.  A cap is placed on the employer-paid benefit ...

In response to the increasing number of cities and counties that have enacted minimum wage ordinances setting wage rates at levels higher than state and federal requirements, last year Assembly Bill 970 was added to the Labor Code allowing the California Labor Commissioner the right to enforce local minimum wage and overtime provisions.  This year the California Legislature looked to enforcement at the local level and passed Senate Bill 1342. Specifically, SB 1342 increases local enforcement to combat wage theft by authorizing cities and counties to issue subpoenas in cases of ...

Prompted, in part, by a 2015 federal court decision which held that employers must state the total hours worked by outside sales persons, Assembly Bill 2535 amends Labor Code section 226 to further clarify the categories of workers whose wage statements need not show total hours worked.  The amendment specifies that salaried persons exempt from overtime under statute (Labor Code section 515) or an order of the Industrial Welfare Commission need not have hours included on wage statements.  In addition, the amendment lists the following categories of workers for which employers do not ...

Senate Bill 269 provides a “safe harbor”  period for some businesses to correct certain violations related to construction-related disability access under the Unruh Act.  The bill reduces fines for certain technical violations corrected within 15 days of notice or service of the complaint, whichever is earlier, and where a business has had a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) inspect the property.  In addition, lower fines apply to smaller businesses which employed 25 or fewer employees on average over past 3 years, and which have averaged gross receipts of less than $3,500,00 ...

In case you missed it, Senate Bill 501, a law which became effective on July 1, 2016, may reduce the prohibited amount of weekly disposable earnings that may be garnished depending on where the employee works.

Specifically, SB 501 adjusts the existing statutory scheme, which limits the amount of an individual judgment debtor’s weekly disposable income subject to garnishment to the lesser of 25% of the disposable earnings or the amount by which the individual’s disposal earnings exceed 40 times the state minimum wage, to now include the possibility of a higher local minimum wage ...

Beginning January 1, 2017, Assembly Bill 1245 requires that employers with 10 or more employees must file all unemployment insurance reports and returns using the e-file system. Also, these employers must remit contributions for unemployment insurance premiums by electronic funds transfer. The law will extend to all employers on January 1, 2018. Businesses without the necessary technology may be exempted, but must request a waiver.

This alert is intended to note current legal trends in commercial lending and risk management issues. No alert should be construed as representing ...

Effective July 1, 2016, Senate Bill 667 extends from 2 weeks to 60 days the period of time that an employee can reopen a disability insurance claim without having a new 7 day consecutive day waiting period of wage loss. This legislation is intended to assist employees returning to work after a 2 week or longer period of disability, who then suffer a recurrence of the same or related condition, and would have had to undergo a second 7 day waiting period before receiving benefits under current law.

This alert is intended to note current legal trends in commercial lending and risk management ...

So you think vaping is the key to reducing workplace stress? Think again. Senate Bill 5 expands no smoking prohibitions to include e-cigarettes (vaping), vaporizer carts and expands the definition of “tobacco products” to include all forms of tobacco or nicotine, except for approved cessation products, such as nicotine gum. Assembly Bill 7 expands the prohibition on smoking in the workplace to include owner-operated business, including a business where the owner is the only employee. Even though vaping equipment such as cartridges from Hamilton Devices CCELL are readily ...