The California Supreme Court has clarified how the cost-shifting provisions of California Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 (“Section 998”) may apply when a case settles before trial. In a recent decision, Madrigal v....more
California Assembly member Matt Haney has introduced the first “right to disconnect” law in the United States, Assembly Bill 2751 (A.B. 2751). Under the proposed legislation, employers would be required to define employees'...more
4/8/2024
/ California ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Reform ,
Off-Duty Employee Access ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Right to Disconnect ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Join us for a complimentary thirty-minute webinar (plus questions) featuring Partner Alison Tsao, Chairperson of CDF’s Diversity Committee and Partner Mark S. Spring, Chairperson of the Sacramento County Bar Association’s...more
7/6/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Diversity ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Webinars
California Labor Code Section 1102.5(b) prohibits employers from retaliating against “whistleblowing” employees for disclosing information about suspected violations of law to a person with authority over the employee or...more
On February 19, 2023, the City of San Francisco’s new ordinance, the Military Leave Pay Protection Act (“MLPPA”), went into effect, which requires private San Francisco employers who have at least 100 employees worldwide, to...more
4/11/2023
/ California ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
Local Ordinance ,
Military Leave ,
Military Service Members ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
San Francisco ,
USERRA ,
Wage and Hour
Just prior to the New Year, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office released updated Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”), which clarified the California Equal Pay Act’s pay scale disclosure requirements that were effective...more
1/11/2023
/ California ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay Transparency ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Over the past decade, California employers have reasonably relied on consistent rulings from courts as well as state and federal administrative agencies upholding the validity of time rounding systems as long as they are...more
On November 15, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. (Pacific Time), CDF Partners Mark S. Spring and Alison Tsao will be presenting our annual complimentary "Year in Review" webinar that will cover 2022's new laws, key judicial...more
10/17/2022
/ Bereavement Leave ,
California ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
DFEH ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family Medical Leave ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Data ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Webinars
On August 11, 2022, the Center for Disease Control (“CDC”) updated and further loosened COVID-19 guidelines. A summary of the guidelines demonstrate the shift in the CDC’s focus to avoid transmitting severe illness, as...more
After an explosion of “website accessibility” cases in recent years where plaintiffs sue internet-based companies under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) alleging that the websites are not accessible...more
Background -
On July 7, 2022, voters in San Francisco, California voted in favor of Proposition G, a paid public health emergency leave. The ordinance becomes operative on October 1, 2022 and updates the original Public...more
In keeping pace with state and federal agencies that are updating public health guidance around COVID-19, San Francisco once again revised its Public Health Order on January 26, 2022 to address vaccination and masking...more
2/2/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Local Ordinance ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
San Francisco ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
As Omicron continues to surge and cause record-level infections, with corresponding worker absences due to COVID-19 illnesses and quarantines, the U.S. Supreme Court on January 13 stayed enforcement of the Occupational Safety...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In 2018, the California Legislature passed a slew of bills to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, including Senate Bill No. 1343. This bill expanded employee protections to require employers who employ 5 or more...more
With a growing number of employers becoming more comfortable with COVID-19 vaccine mandates, combined with this week’s FDA full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the California Legislature is now discussing a potential bill...more
California Plaintiffs frequently assert a duplicative claim under the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), California Business & Professions Code Section 17200 et seq. that relies on a violation of another law to establish...more
In a rare victory for employers, a California Court of Appeal in Wilson v. The La Jolla Group, 2021 WL 940283 (3/12/2021) affirmed the trial court’s denial of class certification of independent contractors’ wage and hour...more
3/23/2021
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
In Sargent v. Board of Trustees of California State University, 2021 WL 836135 (March 5, 2021), the First Appellate District Court of Appeal ruled that while public entity employers were not entirely exempt from liability for...more
Most employers are well-acquainted with California's complex and often employee-friendly legal landscape, but many are less familiar with the patchwork of local ordinances that further govern their employment relationships....more