On top of last week’s Senate hearing into artificial intelligence (“AI”) featuring the testimony of OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”)...more
5/22/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Biometric Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Innovative Technology ,
Machine Learning ,
Policy Statement
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed new Federal regulations to ban non-compete clauses from employment agreements nationwide. The ban will include non-solicitation and other restrictions that are currently designed to...more
Effective February 3, 2023 and in place until February 3, 2025, Cal-OSHA’s Non-Emergency Regulations direct all employers to continue to follow certain COVID-19 guidance. As a result, employers should vigilantly monitor the...more
On February 14, 2023, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) submitted its proposed final regulations (“Regulations”) to the Office of Administrative Law for a final review. It is anticipated that Regulations will go...more
2/20/2023
/ California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) ,
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Personal Information ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State Privacy Laws
The Ninth Circuit gave California employers a belated Valentine’s Day present by upholding the District Court’s injunction against enforcement of California Assembly Bill 51 (“AB 51”) because it inhibited arbitration contrary...more
Topics: COVID-19, Employee Leave In October, Governor Newsom announced that California’s COVID-19 State of Emergency will end on February 28, 2023. Likewise, 2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave is currently scheduled...more
Employee monitoring and tracking technologies implemented to ensure remote employee productivity for remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic need to be handled carefully. California employers seeking to learn whether...more
The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) that amended California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CPPA) comes fully into force on January 1, 2023 and the California Privacy Protection Agency is supposed to start enforcing the CPRA on...more
On October 14, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) ordered a new definition of “Close Contact” effective immediately. The new definition requires employers to reexamine existing COVID-19 policies and...more
Following the passage of the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), for the past two years, employers have been partially exempt from many of the California Consumer Privacy Act's (CCPA) mandates pertaining to applicants,...more
10/11/2022
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Covered Employer ,
Data Mapping ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Notice Requirements ,
Personal Information ,
Privacy Policy ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Right to Delete ,
Safe Harbors ,
Sensitive Personal Information ,
Webinars
On September 29, 2022, Governor Newsom signed AB152 and extended California COVID Supplemental paid leave to December 31, 2022....more
On September 13, 2022, the Fair Work Week Ordinance advanced out of committee and will move forward toward likely City Council approval. If it passes, any retail business with over 300 employees, globally, will face...more
Evenskaas v. California Transit Inc. reversed a Los Angeles Superior Court judge’s denial of an employer’s motion to compel arbitration of a former employee’s wage and hour class action. The trial court had concluded that the...more
7/22/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Motion to Compel ,
Preemption ,
Wage and Hour
If you have a single employee who works for two hours or more in a week in the city of West Hollywood, California, get ready for significant changes that take effect on July 1, 2022, that will impact your West Hollywood...more
6/15/2022
/ California ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Reform ,
Local Ordinance ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) has stepped up enforcement over no-poach/no-hire agreements under Federal antitrust laws. The DOJ recently tried two criminal cases against individual officers of...more
5/11/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Civil Liability ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
No-Hire/No-Solicitation Agreements ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Trade Secrets ,
Webinars
Since last week, when a Federal District Court in Florida struck down the Center for Disease Control’s Mask Mandate for public transportation, many local jurisdictions have announced an end to mask mandates. Indeed, the...more
4/28/2022
/ California ,
CDPH ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Local Ordinance ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Public Health ,
Public Transit
On April 18, 2022, a Federal District Court struck down the CDC’s Mask Mandate that had required masking during travel throughout the United States concluding that the order exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority and failed...more
A former driver for UberEats alleged that Uber misclassified drivers as independent contractors as part of a PAGA action. Uber sought an order to compel arbitration of the question of whether the plaintiff was an independent...more
4/19/2022
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Motion to Compel ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
In novel and important decision, DePy Synthes Sales v. Howmedica Ostionic’s, Ninth Cir. Case No. 21-55126, on March 14, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decisions to prevent a former employer...more
As positivity rates decline in the Golden State, effective March 12, 2022, California’s Public Health Department no longer requires the use of masks indoors in schools or childcare settings and Los Angeles County followed...more
3/14/2022
/ California ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Educational Institutions ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Local Ordinance ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Students ,
Workplace Safety
To update our February 16, 2022 Blog, on March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the law amending the Federal Arbitration Act to prohibit mandatory arbitration of employee claims of sexual harassment or sexual assault....more
3/8/2022
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Biden Administration ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Legislation ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment
Effective March 4, 2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH) eliminated a masking requirement for all persons, regardless of vaccination status, in most indoor public settings which aligns with the...more
3/7/2022
/ California ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Local Ordinance ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Workplace Safety
Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles issued updated indoor masking rules effective February 25, 2022 (“LA Orders”). The LA Orders give businesses two potential “exemptions” from existing indoor masking...more
3/1/2022
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Vaccinations ,
Vaccine Passports ,
Workplace Safety
As we mentioned in our blog earlier this week, the 2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave goes into effect on February 19, 2022 for California employers with more than 25 employees....more
2/18/2022
/ California ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DLSE ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Reform ,
New Guidance ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Posting Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State Labor Laws
Over the course of three days, the House and Senate passed HR 4445, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, amending the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) that is expected to be signed...more
2/17/2022
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment