In the recent case of NEW PRIME INC. v. OLIVEIRA, the United States Supreme Court carved out an important exception to the rule that arbitration agreements are typically enforceable to prevent employees from bringing actions in court, when it ruled unanimously that workers engaged in interstate commerce can avoid arbitration agreements and have their grievances…
New California law requires that all employers of five or more employees must provide one hour of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to non-managerial employees and two hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to managerial employees once every two years. Prior law only required training of supervisory employees. Under the…
The EEOC shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to its strategic enforcement of federal workplace discrimination laws. Indeed, EEOC litigation picked up in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018, and the agency just held a major public hearing in October to emphasize the attention its placing on workplace harassment.
The #MeToo movement has certainly had an impact on how employers do business in California. But even before this, California was long considered to be a trailblazer in the area of sexual harassment law. Indeed, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act mirrors Title VII and employers in other states often look to sexual harassment cases…
On September 14, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the latest attempt to address the “joint employer” standard under the National Labor Relations Act. The proposed rule states that a separate entity will be considered a joint employer “only if the two employers share or codetermine the…
In order to attract the best and the brightest, many companies are offering exceptionally generous perks and benefits, often targeted toward working parents. With the option to spend time at home with your newborn an attractive lure, companies are pitching a range of paid leave options to new parents, including pay for bonding time, medical…
Under the ADA, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Indeed, failure to provide an accommodation is considered a form of disability discrimination and can open the business to potential legal claims. So how do you know when you need to provide such an accommodation?
As we have discussed at length in various blog posts (take a look here and here), maintaining employee handbooks is a critical necessity for businesses operating in the every-changing employment law environment of California. Preparing, maintaining, and updating a handbook that reflects the policies of your company and your operations takes time and expertise, and…
The California Supreme Court shook up the business world with their decision in Dynamex, a case covering the employer/worker relationship that we have discussed at length in this blog. Until recently, the idea of an independent contractor existed in the California workplace. The test the courts used to determine if the worker was in fact…
The world wide web. It seems impossible to remember a time before the internet (and social media) took over. And with employees, millenials particularly, adapting to our digital age with such ease, it is ever-important for California employers to be vigilant regarding how they respond to employee social media usage.