Photo of Michael D. Thomas

Michael Thomas is a principal in the Orange County, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and a co-leader of the firm's Corporate Diversity Counseling practice group. Combining an MBA-level understanding of business with core emotional intelligence and empathy, Michael’s multidisciplinary practice is built on listening, collaboration and—above all—focused on achieving clients’ goals.

California’s Governor signed Senate Bill (SB) 54, which requires a venture capital company to report annually to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) on its funding determinations related to companies primarily founded by diverse founding team members.

Under the law, a venture capital company is covered by the requirements if it meets either of

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

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

Changes in local regulations across California continue to shift the legal landscape for employers, bringing massive implications to their business. On August 18, 2020, Sonoma County passed a paid sick leave ordinance (the “Sonoma Ordinance”), which took effect immediately and sunsetting on December 31, 2020.  The Sonoma Ordinance brings sweeping changes to businesses in unincorporated