Seyfarth Synopsis: As employers expected, the pandemic has brought new challenges to managing a workforce, and of course, new litigation. Here we address hotspots of COVID-19 litigation in California to help employers know where they should be taking special care.
Participants on either side of recent employment litigation in California can often point to the same scapegoat: “COVID made me
Continue Reading The Ultimate Scapegoat: COVID Inspired Lawsuits in California
Seyfarth Synopsis: As the number of class actions alleging FCRA violations continues to skyrocket, it is critical for California employers to understand the basics of all laws affecting employment screening programs. This blog examines those laws and provides practical considerations for employers looking to hire or rehire employees during a shutdown affecting critical sources of information needed for background
Continue Reading The Business of Background Checks During a Pandemic
Seyfarth Synopsis: While employers usually don’t need to pay for travel time associated with an employee’s ordinary commute, federal and California law create exceptions that employers should know—particularly when company policy requires a certain type of transportation.
For many of us, automobile traffic—at least during the B.C. (before covid) era—has been as synonymous with California as its sunny weather
Continue Reading Payroll Potholes: Paying for Travel Time
Seyfarth Synopsis: The controversy surrounding AB 5 unveiled a clear need for a new avenue of classifying so-called gig workers to combine the certainty of employee designations with the flexibility of gig jobs. What are the promises of and prospects for a hybrid classification that would provide workers with some employee benefits while also providing workers and companies some of
Continue Reading GoT’s All-Seeing Three-Eyed Raven: The Gig Economy in California
Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective July 13, 2020, California issued statewide restrictions on a number of business operations due to the resurgence of COVID-19. It ordered all bars to close for indoor and outdoor service, as well as indoor services for restaurants, wineries, and movie theaters. The State also closed fitness centers, non-essential offices, places of worship, hair salons, personal care
Continue Reading California Issues New Statewide Closure Orders Amid Rising COVID-19 Cases
Seyfarth Synopsis: When we think of California employers encountering complex issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, images of retail, service, and other types of businesses come to mind. But one special type of employer needs to be mindful of California law: the family who employs workers to support the household as nannies, chefs, security personnel, personal assistants, and personal caregivers. We
Continue Reading Real Households of California: Issues with Domestic Workers
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two weeks after issuing a statewide face covering mandate, and just days after ordering seven counties to shut down bars, Governor Newsom made the decision to re-close the indoor operations of several sectors in 19 counties in an attempt to flatten the spike in new California COVID-19 cases.
As summer began and businesses across California started to
Continue Reading ‘Cause Baby, There’s No Fireworks: California Rolls Back Reopenings
Seyfarth Synopsis: As counties begin loosening local restrictions and summer approaches, and in an effort to preempt a rise in COVID-19 cases, the California Department of Public Health issued a directive mandating that residents statewide wear face coverings.
Before today, California only recommended that residents wear face coverings as a precautionary measure with COVID-19, and the State left it in
Continue Reading Nothing Comes Close To The Golden Coast: California Requires Masks
Seyfarth Synopsis: California employers seeking to mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may consider adjusting certain pay plans as a way to control costs. Where these adjustments involve commission agreements and bonus plans, it makes cents to invest some time in recalling that phrase coined by Benjamin Franklin: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” So here
Continue Reading Changing California Commission and Bonus Plans In The Time Of COVID
Seyfarth Synopsis: In the popular PBS show Downton Abbey, a large staff attends to the every domestic need of the British Earl and his family. Those of us somewhat less fortunate have likely felt the additional household burdens associated with the SIP orders. And as California businesses re-open, companies and workers have yet another chore to attend: cleaning uniforms
Continue Reading More Laundry? Keeping Uniforms Clean in the Time of COVID