Seyfarth Synopsis:  As if high rent and California’s peculiar laws were not enough to worry about, San Francisco employers must also comply with City-specific ordinances. Trailblazing City requirements often exceed state laws and have sometimes been harbingers of state-level enactments. One might say that San Francisco, with its distinctive laws, is to California what California is to the rest of
Continue Reading San Francisco-Peculiarities: The City’s Ultra-Unique Employment Landscape

Seyfarth Synopsis: Although there’s no right or wrong time to do a handbook update, we recommend them annually. Might as well take the opportunity when operations are typically slower, summertime, to give your handbook a shine. We’ve highlighted a few areas upon which to focus when you do so.

Ah, the joys of summer. Maybe it’s the heat, but everything
Continue Reading Need Cool Relief From Summer Heat? Try a Refreshing Handbook Update!

Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment yesterday heard and approved AB 5, The Opportunity to Work Act, as it continues to move through the legislative process.

iStock_000000642401_LargeThe Opportunity to Work Act, which would require employers to offer hours to part-time employees before hiring new employees or temporary workers, yesterday cleared its first hurdle in the
Continue Reading Legislature Finds More Opportunity to Work: AB 5 Moves Along

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: On March 13, 2017, San Jose’s new “Opportunity to Work Ordinance” takes effect, requiring covered employers to offer additional hours to part-time employees before hiring new or temporary employees. As the law’s effective date looms, the City has issued guidance clarifying portions of the ordinance and has released the notice form that employers must post.

An earlier
Continue Reading Here’s an Update: Opportunity (to Work) Knocks in San Jose

Seyfarth Synopsis: On November 8, 2016, San Jose voters approved the most recent local effort to dictate employment scheduling practices. Beginning in March 2017, San Jose employers must offer existing part-time employees additional work hours before hiring any temporary, part-time, or new worker. Violations of the ordinance can trigger city fines and private law suits.

Temporary, part-time, and
Continue Reading San Jose’s Opportunity to Work Ordinance: New Peculiarity for Employers

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

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

By Colleen M. Regan

Most employees in San Francisco are about to enjoy greater family care flextime rights than any other city in California.

The San Francisco Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance, approved last week by the Board of Supervisors and signed by the mayor on October 14, 2013, permits employees to request “flexible or predictable working arrangements” so they can
Continue Reading San Francisco To Permit More Time Off For Family Care