In April, a Los Angeles Superior Court held that Assembly Bill (AB) 979 which required publicly-held corporations headquartered in California to diversify by adding “underrepresented communities” to their board of directors, was unconstitutional. On May 13, 2022, a second Los Angeles Superior Court found Senate Bill (SB) 826, which required gender diversity on
Diversity
California Superior Court Finds AB 979 is Unconstitutional
On September 30, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 979, which required publicly held corporations headquartered in California to diversify their boards of directors with directors from “underrepresented communities” by December 31, 2021. AB 979 followed similar legislation in Senate Bill (SB) 826, which required gender diversity on boards of directors.
SB…
Challenges to California’s Board Diversity Statutes
Building on board gender diversity requirements, California passed Assembly Bill (AB) 979 in 2020. This statute requires publicly held corporations headquartered in California to diversify their boards of directors with directors from “underrepresented communities,” specifically those individuals who self-identify as Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native,…
9th Circuit Revives Lawsuit Challenging One of the Board of Directors Diversity Statutes
All the way back in 2018, California passed Senate Bill 826 requiring publicly-held corporations with principal executive offices in California to have a certain number of females on their board of directors. Similarly, in 2020, Assembly Bill 979 was passed which required publicly held corporations headquartered in California to diversify their board of directors with…
AB 979 Requires California-Based Publicly Held Corporations to Diversify Their Boards of Directors
On September 30, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 979, which requires publicly held corporations headquartered in California to diversify their boards of directors with directors from “underrepresented communities” by December 31, 2021. This bill is similar to Senate Bill 826, signed into law in 2018, which required publicly held corporations headquartered in…
California Voters to Consider Repealing Proposition 209 in November
On June 25th the California State Senate passed a resolution to place a proposition on the November ballot to repeal Proposition 209 and amend the state constitution. Proposition 209 passed in 1996 and amended the state constitution to prohibit state governmental institutions from considering race, gender, or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public…
California Pay Data Reporting Advances: EEOC May Not Be Alone for Long
The recent focus on the EEOC’s new Component 2 to its EEO-1 Report has been undeniable. It requires employers report on the race, ethnicity, sex, job type, pay, and hours worked data of its employees.
OMB approved this data collection during the Obama Administration. Then, under President Donald Trump, the OMB reversed course, staying the…
Closing the Unequal Pay Gap: California Releases Guidance to Employers on Complying with the California Fair Pay Act
Since passing the California Fair Pay Act (“CFPA”) on October 6, 2015, California has remained a trailblazer in its efforts to address and decrease gender pay inequity. The CFPA requires all employers pay employees performing “substantially similar work” the same wage regardless of gender, ethnicity or race. The CFPA also requires employers to provide the…
Employers Required to Post Transgender Rights in the Workplace Posters
Effective January 1, 2018, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) requires employers with 5 or more employees to post Transgender Rights in the Workplace Posters which may be accessed here. The posting obligation is not met by prior versions of the poster.
The Transgender Rights in the Workplace poster provides information…
Jackson Lewis Statement in Response to University of San Diego Law School Professor’s Op-Ed
Written by Guillermo Escobedo and Kristen Silverman-Hunter
As an on-campus recruiter and scholarship donor at the University of San Diego School of Law, Jackson Lewis P.C. issues this statement in light of the ongoing debate surrounding Professors Lawrence Alexander and Amy Wax’s op-ed, “Paying the Price for the Breakdown of the Country’s Bourgeois Culture…