Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 9, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1867, which requires private employers with 500 or more employees nationwide to provide COVID-19-related supplemental paid sick leave to their California employees. Impacted employers must begin providing this leave no later than September 19, 2020.

On September 9, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1867 into law, creating
Continue Reading AB 1867: Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for All

Seyfarth Synopsis: Businesses operating in California have had all of eight months to adapt since Assembly Bill 5, a landmark piece of legislation governing their relationships with independent contractors, took effect on January 1, 2020. Now, with the passage, executive signature, and immediate enactment of Assembly Bill 2257, businesses must once again adapt to another drastic shift in the employee
Continue Reading AB 2257: Sweeping Changes To AB 5 Independent Contractor Law

Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Legislature has passed a series of employment-related bills for Governor Newsom to consider. He has until September 30 to approve or veto these bills, most of which relate to leaves of absence and COVID relief.

Monday, August 31st (or, really, the wee hours of September 1) marked the Legislature’s last day to pass bills to Governor
Continue Reading California Employment Legislative Update: Time for Governor Newsom to Get to Work

Seyfarth Synopsis: As several counties struggled to get, and remain, off of the California County Data Monitoring List, Governor Newsom unveiled a new framework with revised criteria for loosening and tightening COVID-19 restrictions that replaces the monitoring list altogether. This shift brings with it the reopening of some non-essential indoor activities and the re-closure of others.

On the afternoon of
Continue Reading Chamber of Secrets Unlocked: California Issues Blueprint for Future Reopening

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: Governor Newsom has approved some of the bills most feared by employers, including bills to ban employment arbitration, extend FEHA administrative deadlines, codify the Dynamex ABC test, and create San Francisco-style lactation-accommodation requirements. Governor Newsom also vetoed a few bills that we might expect to be re-introduced in the same or similar form during 2020.

Governor Newsom acted
Continue Reading Legislative Update: Governor Newsom Pens Halloween Terrors for California Employers