Seyfarth Synopsis: 2016 brought a wave of new protections for California employees and scant protection for employers. In this week’s post, we anticipate changes for 2017, in the ever-peculiar world of California employment law.
True to our tradition, we pause at the beginning of the New Year to reflect on last year’s California employment law changes, and consider possible trends.
Continue Reading Charting the Future: What’s Coming in 2017 in California Employment Law?
Dashing through this holiday week of 2016, we wish you all peace, joy, and a renewed spirit with which to face the challenges sure to arise during the coming year.
Next week in this space, we’ll take a look back at the most significant Cal-peculiar employment law developments of the past year, and assess the winter wonderland going into 2017.
Continue Reading Jingle, Jingle—Happy Holidays to Our Readers!
Seyfarth Synopsis: In what many employers will see as a “break” from workplace reality, the Supreme Court, in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., announced that certain “on call” rest periods do not comply with the California Labor Code and Wage Orders. The decision presents significant practical challenges for employers in industries where employees must respond to exigent
Continue Reading No Break for California Employers This Holiday Season
Seyfarth Synopsis: New legislation effective 2017 will expand California workers’ compensation coverage by requiring coverage for certain high-level individuals unless they affirmatively opt out and waive coverage, thereby reversing the prior rule by which those individuals, to get coverage, had to opt in.
As a general rule, California employers must provide employees with workers’ compensation insurance coverage for work-related and
Continue Reading New Year, New Workers’ Comp “Opt Out” Rule For Execs
Seyfarth Synopsis: On November 8, 2016, San Jose voters approved the most recent local effort to dictate employment scheduling practices. Beginning in March 2017, San Jose employers must offer existing part-time employees additional work hours before hiring any temporary, part-time, or new worker. Violations of the ordinance can trigger city fines and private law suits.
Temporary, part-time, and
Continue Reading San Jose’s Opportunity to Work Ordinance: New Peculiarity for Employers
Seyfarth Synopsis: Travel time pay is a nebulous area of the law that can leave many employers stalled on the starting blocks. Here are some guidelines to help ensure that employees get paid for all hours worked, including any compensable travel time.
Ready. Set. Not so fast.
It makes common sense to most people that commute time—the time an employee
Continue Reading The Fast, the Furious, the Fundamentals: Travel Pay in California
Seyfarth Synopsis: Governor Jerry Brown recently signed pay equity legislation to build on SB 358, a gender pay equity bill that he signed just last year.
Recent state pay equity initiatives (in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York) have focused on gender. California is different. Leave it to the state that last year passed the nation’s strictest pay
Continue Reading Pay Equity Extends to Race, Ethnicity, Without Banning Salary Inquiries
(with apologies to the song artist)
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit has suggested it might upset longstanding “on call” practices by making California employers liable for “reporting time” pay to employees who phone in ahead of their schedule, only to find that they are not needed for the day.
On October 5, 2016, a Ninth Circuit panel indicated
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Poised to Say “Call Me, Maybe”
Seyfarth Synopsis: Does carrying a pager nullify a rest break? What about the possibility of being tapped on the shoulder by your boss? Or being called on your cell phone? The California Supreme Court considered these and other scenarios during an hour-long oral argument on September 29, as it asked, What does it mean to not “work” during a rest
Continue Reading The $90 Million Question: Can You Rest While On Call?
We are delighted to announce that yours truly—Seyfarth’s beloved CalPeculiarities Employment Law Blog—has just won a place among the Top 100 Legal Blogs on the web.
We are humbled by this honor, and know we owe it to you: the readers who keep us on our toes!
We are extremely grateful for your continued support. Please continue to let us
Continue Reading Dear Readers: