Photo of Dana Howells

Dana is of counsel in the Labor and Employment Department in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Ms. Howells focuses her practice on advising businesses on all aspects of employment relationships from pre-hire screening to terminations and reductions-in-force. Areas of concentration include ERISA and employee benefits, discrimination, wage and hour, contacts, severance, compensation, FMLA and mandated leaves, disability/reasonable accommodations, harassment/internal investigations, privacy and workplace violence prevention. In addition to advising employers on compliance and problem-solving, Ms. Howells has represented employers before administrative agencies, self-regulatory agencies, in jury and bench trials, and before state and federal appellate courts. Depending on the client’s goals, she has resolved many disputes through arbitration, mediation and negotiation.

Seyfarth Synopsis: We’ve regularly reported on California’s peculiar paid sick leave laws. Not counting industry-specific paid sick laws (e.g., the Long Beach and Los Angeles ordinances regulating hotel employers), there are now six California city ordinances mandating paid sick leave.[1] This week’s focus is on changes to the San Diego law, effective September 2, 2016.

The San Diego ordinance,
Continue Reading San Diego Implementing Ordinance Ameliorates Its Paid Sick Leave Law

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Los Angeles City Council has voted and the Mayor has signed the ordinance.  As of July 1, 2016, many employees within the City of Los Angeles will be entitled to accrue 48 hours of paid sick leave per year. The ordinance has a number of unusual and specific provisions that employers need to be aware of, described
Continue Reading L.A. Gets Sick—Paid Sick Leave Coming as Soon as July 1, 2016