Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Legislature sent a number of employment bills to the Governor, including bills that would expand the Fair Pay Act to race and ethnicity and prohibit salary history inquiries; require overtime pay for agricultural workers, extend family leave protections to employees of small businesses, and much more! We will update you on what received the Governor’s approval
Continue Reading 2016 California Labor and Employment Legislation Update: The End (of Session) Is Near…
Court Enjoins Enforcement of “Safe Harbor” Deadline for Piece Rate Law
Seyfarth Synopsis: A court has temporarily suspended the deadline for employers to elect the statutory “safe harbor” for purposes of complying with recent legislation that makes it even more difficult for employers that pay with a piece rate rather than an hourly rate for any portion of an employee’s work.
As we previously reported, the California Legislature’s enactment
Continue Reading Court Enjoins Enforcement of “Safe Harbor” Deadline for Piece Rate Law
2016 Employment Bills Moving Through The CA Legislative Process
Seyfarth Synopsis: Pending new bills that have now passed their house of origin would (i) expand DLSE enforcement authority, (ii) impose advance scheduling requirements on restaurant, grocery, and retail employers, (iii) extend Fair Pay Act provisions to additional protected classes, (iv) require employers to disclose pay scales to applicants while prohibiting employers to ask about salary history, (v) forbid employers
Continue Reading 2016 Employment Bills Moving Through The CA Legislative Process
California Governor Brown Signs Legislation to Expand Paid Family Leave
Seyfarth Synopsis: Starting Jan 1, 2018, the amount of benefits paid to employees on paid family leave and state disability will increase substantially, depending on an employee’s income level.
The Legislature and Governor have been keeping very busy. On April 11, 2016, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 908, which will, though effective January 1, 2017, increase, for
Continue Reading California Governor Brown Signs Legislation to Expand Paid Family Leave
Governor Signs Bill Building Staircase to Minimum Wage Heaven
On April 4, 2016, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 3, increasing the statewide minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. The increase will be phased in over the next six years.
First introduced in the state Senate by Senator Leno on December 1, 2014, SB 3, was subject to contentious debate on both the Assembly and Senate Floors on March
Continue Reading Governor Signs Bill Building Staircase to Minimum Wage Heaven
Who me? Yes, YOU: Personal Liability For Wage Hour Violations
With March Madness in full swing, we interrupt your crumbling tournament brackets to ensure you’re aware of a truly maddening development. California law now makes individuals potentially liable for employer violations of many often-convoluted wage and hour rules.
That’s right—individuals, not just companies, may be liable for wage and hour violations.
We mentioned this legislation here last Fall,
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Pay Equity Legislation: Not Just Gender Anymore
From high profile cases in Hollywood to the Silicon Valley, to high-profile legislation, gender pay equity has been top of the news in the past year. On January 1, 2016, the California Fair Pay Act — widely publicized as the toughest (gender) pay equity law in the nation — became effective. Other states (Massachusetts, New Jersey,
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No Peace for Piece Rate Employers
As 2015 drew to a close, the DLSE issued several publications regarding California’s new piece-rate legislation, AB 1513, reminding California employers that it is now even more difficult to pay employees on a piece-rate basis.
As we previously blogged here, AB 1513 added Section 226.2 to the Labor Code, effective January 1, 2016. This new law imposes significant new
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Corollary (and Coronary?) Ramifications Of the 2016 Minimum Wage Increase
The $10 state-wide minimum wage that hits us on January 1, 2016, will complicate things even more than the last increase.
We previously reported here and here on the two-step legislation aimed to increase minimum wage from $8 to $10 by way of two $1 incremental raises. The first $1 increase took effect July 1, 2014. Now it’s time for
Continue Reading Corollary (and Coronary?) Ramifications Of the 2016 Minimum Wage Increase
Piece Rate in a Pickle: California Gets More Peculiar Still
The California Legislature seems intent on ending piece-rate pay as we have known it. A law effective January 1, 2016, goes beyond the previously discussed Bluford and Gonzalez decisions to mandate that employees who earn piece-rate wages be paid a special, separate rate for rest and recovery periods, as well as for all “other non-productive time.” Further, that rate will
Continue Reading Piece Rate in a Pickle: California Gets More Peculiar Still