Seyfarth Synopsis: California has long prohibited sexual harassment in various types of relationships, including employment relationships, and in other professional and business relationships which have elements of power imbalance. Although the right to sue for sexual harassment in business and professional relationships has been part of the fabric of California law for decades, in recent years, the legislature has taken
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California Employment Legislative Update: Time for Governor Newsom to Get to Work
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
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Legislative Update: Governor Newsom Pens Halloween Terrors for California Employers
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
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California Employment Legislative Update: Governor Newsom Gets to Work
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Legislature has passed a series of bills for Governor Newsom to consider. He now has until October 13 to approve or veto bills such as a Dynamex codification bill and a San Francisco-inspired lactation accommodation bill.
Friday, September 13th marked the Legislature’s last day to pass bills to Governor Newsom’s desk for approval in the first
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Governor Newsom Pumps Brakes On New Sexual Harassment Training Requirements
Seyfarth Synopsis: California employers racing to ensure all their employees receive mandatory harassment training by the end of the year can now take their foot off the gas. In response to an outcry from employer groups regarding the challenge of compliance at breakneck speed, the Legislature and Governor Newsom have extended the new training deadline for a year.
Faithful readers
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Time to Clean Up Janitorial Training
Seyfarth Synopsis: A new set of proposed regulations requires all janitorial employees and their supervisors to receive two hours of in-person, interactive sexual harassment training every two years.
The Property Service Workers Protection Act of 2016 requires employers with at least one janitorial worker (including front line cleaners) to provide biennial sexual violence and harassment prevention training to janitorial employees
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You’ve Got An Internal Sexual Harassment Complaint: Now What?
Seyfarth Synopsis: It is important for companies to investigate internal sexual harassment complaints and take prompt, appropriate corrective action. This post provides a six-step roadmap of best practices for handling sexual harassment complaints.
1. Plan Ahead
- Maintain compliant harassment policies, provide regular harassment training covering all required topics (Seyfarth can help), and communicate the procedure for
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California Legislative Update: Sexual Harassment, Other Bills Await Governor’s Signature
Seyfarth Synopsis: August 31 was the California Legislature’s last day to send bills to Governor Brown for his approval or veto by his September 30 deadline. Chief among them are bills addressing sexual harassment.
2018, the year of #MeToo, saw California Senators and Assembly Members introduce numerous bills on sexual harassment-prevention, often followed by their colleagues’ response of “me
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2018 California Legislative Update: It’s Spring! What Bills Have Sprung?
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
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The Stale Harassment Complaint: Coal In Your Stocking?
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
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