Seyfarth Summary: Like the singers in “California Dreamin,” many out-of-state employers—on a winter’s day and otherwise—might dream of operating in California. California is an attractive market for out-of-state companies. But employers who hire employees in California or send employees to work there face a unique set of challenges. Below are some key areas of employment law these companies should
Continue Reading “California Dreamin”—Peculiar Laws To Consider When Crossing State Lines

Seyfarth Synopsis: Dominating this spring’s planting of proposed employment-related legislation are bills aimed at ending sexual harassment and promoting gender equity. Among the secondary crops are bills regarding accommodation, leave, criminal history, and wage and hour law. It threatens to be another bitter fall harvest for California’s employer community.

California legislators stormed into the second half of the 2017-18 legislative
Continue Reading 2018 California Legislative Update: It’s Spring! What Bills Have Sprung?

Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Legislature has introduced a new bipartisan bill, AB 1870, that would give all employees—not just those claiming sexual harassment—three years to file DFEH complaints of unlawful discrimination, instead of the one year provided by current law.

More time to report discrimination

With the #MeToo movement sweeping the nation, California legislators are introducing bills aimed at giving
Continue Reading #Time’s Up? Not Yet, For Harassment Claims

Seyfarth Synopsis: The natural inclination is to ignore attempts to dredge up claims of harassment that happened long ago. But no harassment claim is too old to investigate. Having strong anti-harassment policies and investigation procedures, along with a good work culture, can help employers avoid getting caught in the cross-fire of the “me-too” harassment dialogue.

The #MeToo movement has enveloped
Continue Reading The Stale Harassment Complaint: Coal In Your Stocking?

By Shireen Husain, Kristina Launey, and Laura Maechtlen

In 2013, the Legislature made significant changes to California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, including empowering the Department to file civil actions directly against employers, authorizing the award of attorneys’ fees to the Department, and creating the Fair Employment and Housing Council.

The Council has been feverishly proposing and enacting regulations pursuant to its new authority, including proposed amendments to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) regulations.  If enacted, these amendments could mean substantial changes to your sexual harassment and discrimination policies and procedures.

What’s new?

Last Thursday, the Council met to consider amendments.  Currently before the Council is a proposed new section 11023, entitled Harassment and Discrimination Prevention and Correction, which would require employers to develop  written sexual harassment and discrimination policies that:

  • Specifically address the liability of supervisors
  • Create a “confidential” complaint process (although employers should not promise that the investigation will be completely confidential)
  • Provide for complaints through channels other than the complaining employee’s direct supervisor
  • Designate a company representative to receive complaints and facilitate internal resolution of disputes
  • Provide for fair, timely, and thorough investigations of complaints and provides due process to all parties
  • Are provided to all employees with an acknowledgment return form or using a method that ensures employees receive and understand the policies
  • Are provided in every language that is spoken by at least 10% of the workforce

In addition, the amendments include a 2 year record retention requirement for all sexual harassment training materials, including sign in sheets and course materials.  Training must include information regarding potential employer and individual liability in civil actions and highlight supervisors’ obligations to report sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation.

Important Highlights

While many of the proposed amendments do not substantively change the law, the changes may be an indication of the focus of the Council in 2014 and a good reminder of employer best practices.  Don’t forget:
Continue Reading New Proposed Amendments to the FEHA: Is your sexual harassment policy in compliance?

By Josh Rodine and Leo Li

We take a break from our Onboarding Series to inform you of a new case with implications for anyone with employees in California.  If you are reading this, that’s probably you. 

On January 13, 2014, in Taylor v. Nabors Drilling USA, LP, the California Court of Appeal held that, under the California Fair Employment
Continue Reading California Court Takes The “Sex” Out Of Sexual Harassment

We all know that agency regulations can be informative guidance but, by their nature, extremely detailed and—let’s face it—dry as toast.  The new disability regulations, which went into effect on December 30, 2012, are no exception.  

The regulations seek to “clarify” statutory definitions and employers’ obligations to an employee with an actual or perceived disability.  However, these “clarifications” expand employers burdens under California law.

Expanded Definition Of “Disability” Including: 

  •     post-traumatic stress disorder
  •     autism spectrum
  •     palsy
  •     heart disease
  •     multiple sclerosis
  •     seizure disorder
  •     clinical depression
  •     obsessive compulsive disorder
  •     schizophrenia
  •     bipolar disorder 

Before the regulationsWhether these conditions met the definition of “disability” under California law was subject to debate, as many other conditions. 

After the regulations:  Not much to debate.  The new regulations specifically say that the analysis as to whether a condition is a disability should not be extensive, regardless if it is a condition explicitly recognized by regulations as such. 

Expanded Definition of “Major Life Activities”:  The definition of “major life activities” now includes sleeping, thinking, and interacting with others (which implies that social disorders will now also be considered disabilities).

How To Determine When Functions Are Essential?  The regulations provide additional guidance as to when a job function is essential.  Updated and accurate job descriptions are crucial and are now actually required by the regulations.  Performance evaluations will also assist in determining whether a function is essential.   

The Growing List Of Reasonable Accommodations:  Similar to the new pregnancy disability regulations that we discussed here and here, the disability regulations include a broader list of reasonable accommodations.  


Continue Reading The FEHC’s Last Stand: Commission Rides Off Into The Sunset After Wrangling The New Disability Regulations

Continuing in this series on new California regs, this post calls out three additional areas where the pregnancy disability regulations have changed as of January 1, 2013.  Last time, we talked about expanded definitions, time periods for leave, and required notices.  This time, we are talking reinstatement, interplay with other leaves and reasonable accommodation.  For a deeper dive, you’ll have
Continue Reading What To Expect When Your Employees Are Expecting: The New Pregnancy Disability Regulations (Part Two)

After almost two years of public comment and editing, the California Office of Administrative Law finally settled on a crop of regulations that substantially alter the way Pregnancy Disability Leaves (PDL) are administered in California.  The regulations (effective December 30, 2012) have created additional burdens for employers that many may find onerous:    

Expanded Definition:  The definition of “disabled by
Continue Reading What To Expect When Your Employees Are Expecting: The New Pregnancy Disability Leave Regulations Are Not Necessarily A Bundle Of Joy For Employers (Part One)

Oh, L’Amour.  As Valentine’s Day approaches and the flowers and cookie bouquet deliveries start roaming the hallways, it is time for us to turn our sights on one of the most innocent-seeming, yet problematic, aspects of employment law:  the workplace romance. 

Despite the fact that quid pro quo harassment claims continue to decline in favor of the much more popular hostile work environment claim, we must recognize that some entirely consensual workplace relationships go bad.  And the result is a claim that “I only did that because I didn’t feel like I had a choice” or “I wouldn’t have dated her if she weren’t the boss.”  This type of situation is enough to turn any cupid into a devil. 

Work romance statistics:  With work hours longer, and more women than men entering the workplace, an estimated 60-75% of employees have entered into an office romance at one time or another.  Of those, 20% claimed to have been dating a boss or supervisor.  Many of us know someone who met his or her significant other at work.  However, despite the commonplace of workplace romance, it is shocking that almost 75% of employers have no policy on office romance at all.

So how do you keep those little flings from getting flung into the courtroom?  Contrary to what you might believe, a policy that prohibits all dating in the workplace is rarely appropriate, unless very specific conflict issues have arisen as a result of workplace relationships.  In fact, policies forbidding all dating have backfired on many employers, creating an environment where employees seem to enjoy breaking the policy because of the risk involved and lose respect for other management policies.  In addition, California employers must stay aware of the broadly worded provisions of the California Labor Code that forbid employers from discriminating against an employee or applicant for lawful off-premises conduct during nonworking hours. 

What about a “love contract”?  The idea of a “contract” may seem distasteful when it comes to romance.  After all, there is nothing romantic about sitting down with a human resources representative, copping to a relationship with a co-worker or supervisor, and committing the nature of that relationship to paper.  However, as an employer, failing to do this could lead to a sticky situation in the event the relationship fails and no one bothered to document it in its honeymoon phase.

What is a love contract?  A love contract is essentially an agreement between two consenting adults to clarify that the relationship itself is, in fact, voluntary and legitimate and not the product of a subordinate being forced into something untoward because of the imbalance of power between him or her and his or her supervisor. 

It is intended to capture the intentions when the relationship is working—so that when it isn’t—a party will have a significantly harder time demonstrating this was part of a sexually predatory scheme on the part of a randy colleague.  Both parties acknowledge up front that’s not the case.  At this time, there hasn’t been a case where the validity or coercive nature of a love contract has really been challenged, but regardless of the result, this type of agreement will serve as a powerful evidentiary tool and, at the outset, a reminder to the employees that they need to behave appropriately in the workplace.

When to use a love contract:  To decide whether a love contract is appropriate, review the following factors:
Continue Reading The Love Contract: When Cupid Aims His Bow At Your Co-Worker