Seyfarth Synopsis: The Sacramento Board of Supervisors has joined many other California locales, including Los Angeles City and County, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, in requiring employers to provide covid-related paid sick leave. On top of required paid sick leave for designated reasons, the Ordinance contains numerous other employer obligations, such as vigorous cleaning
Continue Reading 2020—The Hits Keep Coming: Sacramento County’s New Sick Leave

Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers are usually mindful of the many laws governing employee medical leaves and how they interact. But what about accommodation for non-medically necessary leaves? This post discusses the basics of employee leaves for elective medical procedures.

California employers who administer employee leave laws navigate a complicated labyrinth. Employers must consider interactions among federal laws (ADA, FMLA, Title VII),
Continue Reading Nip/Tuck Leave: When Employees Take Leave for Elective Procedures

Seyfarth Synopsis: Many employers have “no fault” attendance policies in place to manage employee absenteeism.  Are these policies putting California employers on shaky ground? Read on….

“No fault” attendance policies are one popular method among employers to, with consistency, counsel, discipline and, in some instances, terminate employees who rack up excessive absences.  Under these policies, the reason for the employee’s
Continue Reading The Fault Line Running Under “No Fault” Attendance Policies

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: In leaves of absence, as in employment law generally, California can be peculiar. We examine at a few examples, including particular city ordinances in Emeryville and San Francisco, and other statewide oddities such as voting, organ/tissue donation, and reckless student leave.

In the weird, wonderful, and often complex world of California leave laws, there are many familiar
Continue Reading Ruff CA Leave Laws: Pet Care and Other Peculiarities

Seyfarth Synopsis: After hitting some major roadblocks, the San Diego Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance has now been enacted. The Ordinance is to take effect this summer, most likely by the end of July. The Ordinance adds another perplexing piece to California’s paid sick leave patchwork.

After taking a nearly two-year hiatus, the San Diego Earned Sick
Continue Reading San Diego Voters Enact Paid Sick Leave, Higher Minimum Wage

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

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Santa Monica has amended its Minimum Wage Ordinance to postpone implementation of its paid sick leave entitlements, now starting January 1, 2017 instead of July 1, 2016, and create a two phase implementation process for both small and large employers.

Like many a trip to the beach, the journey of the paid sick leave portion of Santa Monica’s
Continue Reading UPDATE: Santa Monica Amends Minimum Wage Ordinance, Delays Sick Pay Implementation.

We’ve previously covered California’s sweeping Paid Sick Leave Law that took effect July 1, 2015 here and here. Now Santa Monica – not to be outdone by Bay Area sister municipalities in San Francisco, Oakland, and Emeryville – enacted its own paid sick leave ordinance (“Ordinance”) on January 26, 2016 – just two weeks after it was initially proposed.
Continue Reading Riding the Paid Sick Leave Wave–Santa Monica Edition

Counting money

CASE HAS BEEN OVERTURNED – turn to this post for current information.

We normally write about how California law differs from American law generally. Today, though, we highlight a recent California case that rejected the notion that California law should deviate from analogous federal wage and hour law. That case is Alvarado v. Dart Container Corp. of California. More
Continue Reading The California Regular Rate Of Pay: Not So Peculiar