California Workplace Law Blog

Insight & Commentary on California Workplace Law Issues & Developments

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By: Jackson Lewis P.C.

Latest from California Workplace Law Blog - Page 2

Most of California is currently subject to the state’s Regional Stay at Home Order and  COVID-19 cases surging around the state. Meanwhile, federal and state supplemental paid sick leave benefits available to employees in California will soon expire. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), which includes paid sick leave obligations for employers with less than 500 employees, is set to expire on December 31, 2020. California’s recently enacted statewide supplemental paid sick leave law…
At the beginning of December, the CDC issued new guidance regarding the length of quarantine. Although the new CDC guidance was not definitive in shortening the quarantine period, it did provide options to local health departments to shorten the quarantine period, if they determined it appropriate. On December 14th, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released its own COVID-19 Quarantine Guidance. The CDPH follows suggestions from the CDC in reducing the…
While the California courts were relatively quiet during 2020, the California Supreme Court has a few heavy-hitting employment cases pending for 2021. Here are the cases employers should be watching in the new year and why. Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC AMN Services (“AMN”) used a computer-based timekeeping system, which required employees such as Plaintiff to click on an icon to open the program each day and would “punch in and out” for the start…
On December 3, 2020, the state issued a new regional stay-at-home order which requires additional industries to close or scale back operations based on intensive care unit (ICU) capacity in the region. The order separates the state into five separate regions, as opposed to the county-by-county approach used in previous regulations. The Bay Area region elected to preemptively issue orders prior to reaching the state threshold for ICU capacity. The Southern California and San Joaquin…
The deadline for employers to comply with California’s pay data reporting requirement (Senate Bill 973) and submit pay data to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is March 31, 2021. The DFEH has launched an information page that provides needed clarity on certain obligations and has issued additional guidance on the pay data report’s contents — largely confirming certain assumptions and clarifying other requirements. Read the full article on Jackson Lewis …
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Shortly before Thanksgiving, California’s Department of Industrial Relations Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board (“Board”) adopted a general safety order that creates an emergency temporary standard specific to potential workplace COVID-19 exposures (“Rule”). The Rule was quietly approved by the Office of Administrative Law without detailed analysis on November 30th and went into effect upon approval. While this gave little time for employers to come into compliance with the new requirements, the Division of Occupational…
On December 1, Judge Jeffrey S. White granted the plaintiffs’ request to set aside two separate rules issued by the Trump Administration that would have drastically undermined the ability of employers to utilize both the H-1B and PERM visa programs. In Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. United States Department of Homeland Security, Judge White held that the Administration violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) when it enacted two rules: the Strengthening Wage …
On November 19, 2020, California’s Department of Industrial Relations Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board (“Board”) adopted a general safety order that, in effect, creates an emergency temporary standard specific to potential workplace coronavirus (“COVID-19”) exposures (“COVID-19 Prevention Rule” or “Rule”). While not the first state to adopt an emergency temporary standard (see our earlier posts on new requirements in Michigan, Oregon, and Virginia), California’s COVID-19 Prevention Rule is unique in that…
Only a week ago Governor Newsom “pulled the brake” on California’s reopening, including issuing a travel advisory. However, as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, the California Department of Public Health (“the Department”) has issued a limited stay-at-home order that will go into effect Saturday, November 21, 2020, at 10:00 p.m. PST. The Department also issued a Questions and Answers page regarding the limited stay-at-home order. The order applies to counties in…
California’s stair-step climb to a $15-dollar minimum wage continues. Effective January 1, 2021, the minimum wage for employers with 25 employees or less will increase to $13.00 per hour, and for employers with 26 or more employees, the minimum wage will increase to $14.00 per hour. Employers must remember this increase also affects minimum salary requirements for exempt employees. While some local minimum wages increase mid-year, many others also increase on January 1…