On September 28, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA) into law, effective January 1, 2025. This law enhances protections for freelance independent contractors, requiring businesses to obtain written contracts for specified professional services, and requiring that such freelance workers are timely paid. Here are some key elements of the…
A new California law which became effective in March 2024 has made California employers scramble to implement effective privacy protection policies for their employees. The new law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), imposes the requirements of existing privacy rights law to personal data that employers obtain from their employees, leaving many of them asking…
The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to shape our legal landscape. A recent ruling in California might have a significant impact on how employers manage furloughs. By: Muhammed T. Hussain Key Takeaways from Hartstein v. Hyatt Corp. The Situation: Employees were furloughed in March 2020 and terminated in June 2020. They argued that Hyatt…
As most employers in California are aware, in June of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (“Viking River”) that Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) actions could be split into individual and non-individual claims and the individual claims could be subject to arbitration. The Court expressed its view that…
Author: Joseph C. Gjonola Recently, the California Supreme Court accepted a Petition for Review filed by RPNA on behalf of our extraordinary client SANTA YNEZ BAND OF CHUMASH MISSION INDIANS, in their lawsuit against Lexington Insurance Company for business injury coverage triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of extensive documentary and expert…
Author: Burton E. Falk Last week the California Supreme Court made a pivotal ruling that could have significant implications for your responsibilities as employers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Court clarified that employers do not owe a tort-based duty to non-employees to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to family members under workers’ compensation laws.…
By Trevor Witt An upcoming ballot measure could significantly affect your business and provide some much needed relief from costly and frivolous lawsuits for employers. The November 2024 ballot will contain a measure titled “Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act,” which proposes to repeal the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) in California. PAGA was initially…
By Burton E. Falk In the workers’ comp world, applicants and defense attorneys try to reject med-legal reports and disqualify the medical evaluators, including QMEs and AMEs when they don’t like a doctor’s opinion. There are techniques to avoid disqualification that will help preserve your reputation and ensure that you get paid for your med-legal…
What’s new? The new law covers legal entities of a certain size (see below) that do business in California and collect personal information of consumers. A consumer is defined as a California resident and therefore includes employees. · Businesses must provide a “notice at collection”. At the time of collecting the personal…
California passed another round of COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave. The new sick leave requirements, which are very similar to the benefits that expired in September 2021, go into effect on February 19th and apply retroactively to January 1, 2022. The benefits will continue to be available to employees up to September 30, 2022. The…