On January 1, 2024, California’s Senate Bill (SB) 616 takes effect, increasing the amount of paid sick leave employers are required to provide to California employees. In the new year, employers will be required to provide 40 hours of sick leave.  Several cities in California also have their own paid sick leave ordinances, and employers

The California Supreme Court in Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks, Inc was asked to rule on two questions by the 9th Circuit:

  1. If an employee contracts COVID-19 at the workplace and brings the virus home to a spouse, causing injury, does the California Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA) bar the spouse’s negligence claim against the employer?

Employers should have a comprehensive plan regarding sexual harassment prevention in the workplace, which includes training for all employees. Under current California law, employers with five or more employees are required to provide two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to supervisors and managers and one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to non-supervisory employees. 

With the significant increase in COVID-19 cases, the state of California has started implementing new measures to try to combat the rise.  On July 26, 2021, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued an order requiring covered healthcare facilities to verify the vaccination status of all workers and put mandatory testing requirements in place

As COVID-19-related litigation increases, courts are being called upon to interpret the scope of employers’ duties to protect their employees with relation to the virus.  Last week, a California federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a spouse attempting to hold her husband’s employer liable for her COVID-19 infection.  The judge held that California’s worker’s

While litigation over the controversial Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) continues throughout the state, a San Diego Superior Court judge recently issued a preliminary injunction enjoining and restraining a company from failing “to comply with California employment law” regarding a category of individuals within the City of San Diego while the litigation is pending. This

Overruling Gentry v. Superior Court, 42 Cal. 4th 443 (2007) as preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), the California Supreme Court upheld the validity of class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements. Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, No. S204032  (Cal. Jun. 23, 2014).  Declining to follow D.R. Horton, 357 NLRB No. 184 (Jan. 3, 2012), the Court also rejected that class action waivers are unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).  However, the Court further ruled that employers could not require waivers of representative actions under the California Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) as contrary to public policy and unwaivable as a matter of state law and were not preempted by the FAA.  Accordingly, the Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeal and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Continue Reading California Supreme Court Okays Class Action Waivers and Overrules Gentry v. Superior Court, but Bans Waivers of Representative Actions Under the PAGA