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Employees’ Refusal to Work Over Coronavirus Concerns

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses were faced with making difficult decisions regarding their workforce. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, in April, the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent totaling 23.1 million unemployed. While the number of new unemployment claims appears to be dropping, for the week ending May 2, 2020, […]

Updated EEOC Guidance for Employers Permits Testing for COVID-19

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) recently published updated and expanded technical assistance addressing questions arising under federal equal employment opportunity laws related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The April 23, 2020 guidance, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” expands on previous guidance and addresses […]

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Does the Federal WARN Act Apply to Me?

Employers considering reducing their workforce, months-long furloughs or reducing employee work hours during this trying time should consider the federal WARN Act (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) before going too far down that path. A number of states and cities have their own WARN Acts with their own – in some cases even stricter […]

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New California Legislation Makes it More Difficult to Classify Workers as Independent Contractors

California Assembly Bill 5 has been branded as the killer of the gig economy. It adds to the California Labor Code a new test for deciding who is properly classified as an independent contractor. Workers will be considered employees for purposes of the Labor Code, unless the hiring entity can prove that: (a) the person […]

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2019 Legislative Changes for California Severance and Settlement Agreements

Employers often find themselves in a bind – they need to let an employee go quickly and they want the employee to sign a release of all claims, so they dust off the severance agreement they used last time around, change the name and payment terms, and present it to the employee. Attorneys will warn […]

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California enacts sweeping legislation designed to address the #MeToo movement

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law four new bills addressing harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Senate Bill 826 mandates that public companies based in California have at least one woman on their board of directors by the end of 2019. That number increases in 2021 depending on the size of the board. Senate Bill […]

Court Embraces Worker-Friendly Test for Determining Independent Contractor Status Under California Wage Orders, Broadening Definition of “Employee”

On Monday, the California Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision to reject 30-year old precedent which focused the inquiry on the amount of control the company exercises over the worker, embracing a new test for determining whether a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor for wage order claims. In Dynamex v. Superior […]

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AM
Former Associate

Supreme Court Rejects Principle that FLSA Overtime Exemptions Should Be Construed Narrowly

In a 5-4 opinion issued on April 2nd, the United States Supreme Court held that service advisers at car dealerships are exempt from the overtime pay requirement of the FLSA because they are “salesm[e]n . . . primarily engaged in . . . servicing automobiles.”  This ruling is significant for not only the auto industry, […]

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NLRB Update: 2015 Joint Employer Standard Revised

In what is seen as a victory for employers, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a 3-2 decision in HyBrand Industrial Contractors, Ltd. and Brandt Construction Co. (“HyBrand”) striking down the joint employer standard stated in Browning Ferris Industries of California, Inc. d/b/a BFI Newby Island Recyclery (“Browning-Ferris”), and returning to the pre-2015 […]

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KR
Former Associate

Immigration Alert: California Passes Bill Restricting ICE Entering Businesses

On September 14, 2017, California lawmakers passed bill AB 450, dubbed the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, which would imposes various requirements on public and private employers with regard to federal agency immigration worksite enforcement actions. See here. This includes, for example, prohibiting an employer from providing voluntary consent to a U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement […]

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