Seyfarth Synopsis: Members of the plaintiffs’ bar submit about 500 PAGA notices each month to California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Each notice presages yet another PAGA lawsuit against yet another hapless California employer. But today we consider a new sort of PAGA-focused lawsuit. This recent complaint filed last week is not on behalf of a California law enforcement agency
Continue Reading Man Bites Dog: This PAGA Lawsuit Is Different

Seyfarth Synopsis: AB 1654 provides a PAGA exemption for certain employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. While AB 1654 is limited to the construction industry, its underlying rationale applies much more broadly, and may augur further thoughtful restrictions on PAGA’s broad scope.

California’s Private Attorneys General Act, imposing draconian penalties for even relatively trivial Labor Code violations, remains the
Continue Reading Constructive Solution for PAGA? CBA Waivers for Construction Employers

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: With the widespread use of direct deposit, the thought of an employee regularly reviewing wage statements may seem inconceivable. Still, employers must ensure that their wage statements strictly comply with California law, as even trivial, inadvertent failures to do so can lead to heavy penalties. We highlight here the information to include on wage statements while pointing
Continue Reading Not As You Wish: Wage Statement Law’s Pit of Despair

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: Pay equity and Ban The Box bills lead the list of bills approved to continue their quest (moving to the other house of the California Legislature) to become California law.

Friday, June 2, marked the last day for bills in the California Legislature to pass out of their house of origin—the Senate or Assembly—and continue the legislative process
Continue Reading 2017 Labor & Employment Legislative Update: House of Origin Deadline

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

Readers interested in developments concerning California’s unique Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) may want to delve into a short thought piece (actually advice to the California Legislature) on a recently-proposed bill that would amend PAGA. To read that post, also available on Seyfarth’s Wage & Hour Litigation Blog, please click here or at the end of the synopsis.

Seyfarth Synopsis:
Continue Reading A Cautionary Comment on PAGA (or Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Getting Around) Legislative Intent

October 11, 2015, was Governor Brown’s last day to sign bills the California Legislature presented to him following the first year of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session. Below is a summary of what did and did not make Governor Brown’s final cut, and some practical tips for California employers to prepare themselves for compliance with these new California peculiarities.

SIGNED BY
Continue Reading 2015 California Labor and Employment Legislation Update: It’s Final!

California State Capitol in Sacramento

The California Legislature adjourned Friday evening, September 11, to close its 2015-16 Legislative Session. It sent a number of employment-related bills to Governor Brown for consideration by his October 11, 2015 deadline to sign or veto the bills. Below is a summary of those before him for consideration, as well as some significant bills he has already signed or that
Continue Reading 2015 California Labor and Employment Legislation Update: The End (of Session) Is Near…