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Seyfarth Synopsis: New statutory obligations for California employers in 2018 will include prohibitions on inquiries into applicants’ salary and conviction histories, expanding CFRA to employees of smaller employers, expansion of mandatory harassment training to include content on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, and new immigration-related restrictions and obligations.

California Governor Jerry Brown spent his last day to sign…
Continue Reading 2017 Labor & Employment Legislative Update: It’s Finally Over! (For Now…)

Seyfarth Synopsis: Governor Jerry Brown has till October 15 to approve bills the Legislature sent to his desk by its Friday, September 15, deadline, including bills that would require employers to ”show us the money” for certain employees and to make “mum be the word” for an applicant’s past conviction history.

The 2017 California Legislative Session kicked off on January…
Continue Reading 2017 Labor & Employment Legislative Update: The End is Near!

Seyfarth Synopsis: While California courts have created annoying doctrines with respect to vacation pay, it remains the case that vacation pay is a matter of contract and that employers can avoid many problems with careful drafting of the vacation plan.

As we anticipate Labor Day weekend, note this mid-summer treat from the California Court of Appeal: its decision in…
Continue Reading Put It In Writing: Policy Controls When Vacation Accrual Begins

Seyfarth Synopsis: The DLSE enforces California labor laws. In two recent enforcement actions, the DLSE collectively recovered over one million dollars, so California employers should read on to find out more about this robust administrative agency.

What Is The DLSE And Why Should Employers Care?

The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (aka the DLSE or the Labor Commissioner’s…
Continue Reading What’s Up With The DLSE? Latest Enforcement Actions

Seyfarth Synopsis: Back from Spring Break, and Back to Work: Our List of L&E Bills to Watch in the remainder of the 2017-2018 California Legislative Session.

New LegislationCalifornia Legislators were, as always, very busy in the first few months of the 2017-18 Legislative Session, introducing well over 2000 bills by the February 17th bill introduction deadline. But, in comparison to prior…
Continue Reading 2017 California Labor and Employment Legislative Update: What to Watch

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: 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: Employers in California: be aware and prepare for new laws increasing minimum wages and mandating overtime pay for agricultural employees; expanding the California Fair Pay Act to race and ethnicity and to address prior salary consideration; imposing new restrictions on background checks and gig economy workers; and more. Small employers will be relieved the Governor vetoed expanded unpaid …
Continue Reading 2016 California Labor and Employment Legislation Update: It’s Final!

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: New FAQs from DLSE offer some guidance on California’s “new and improved” Equal Pay Act. Most helpful is discussion of factors (skill, effort, responsibility) affecting whether work by different employees is “substantially similar” enough to require equal wages. 

As Seyfarth has reported previously here, as of January 1, 2016, California has one of the most aggressive pay…
Continue Reading New DLSE FAQs: Unequal Guidance On Equal Pay Law