Photo of Susan E. Groff

Susan E. Groff is a Principal in the Los Angeles, California, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She advises and counsels management on various employment related issues and is Co-Leader of the California Advice and Counsel Resource Group.

Ms. Groff advises employers on complying with federal and California requirements for disability accommodation and protected leaves of absence.

She also counsels employers on a host of other employment issues, including wage and hour laws, harassment and discrimination complaints, workplace investigations, reductions in force, and discipline and termination questions. Ms. Groff further conducts training and seminars on employment related issues, including sexual harassment prevention training.

Furthermore, Ms. Groff has extensive experience exclusively representing employers in labor and employment disputes. She has defended employers in employment litigation, including actions involving sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of sex, age, race, religion, and disability, wrongful termination, and wage and hour matters, including class actions. Ms. Groff has litigated matters from inception through the appellate stage before California state and federal courts and represents employers in proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and tribunals.

Under California Labor Code 2802, employers are required to reimburse employees for necessary expenses incurred in executing their job duties for their employer. This reimbursement requirement may apply to the use of the employee’s personal vehicle for work purposes, such as driving between work sites. An employee’s regular commute does not typically require reimbursement, just

On February 9, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 114 which resurrects COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) for 2022.

The following are answers that employers need to their questions regarding the latest edition of California SPSL.

When does SPSL become effective?

SPSL becomes effective February 19, 2022, 10 days after enactment.

 In late January, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he and the legislature had reached an agreement on a framework to revive COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (SPSL), which expired in September 2021. However, there was no bill and only speculation on what coverage would look like.

On February 2, 2022, Assembly Bill 84

At the start of 2021, California’s family and medical leave law, the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), expanded its coverage to apply to smaller employers—from employers with 50 or more employees to those with just 5 or more employees.  More recently, during the 2021 legislative session, California’s governor signed legislation to add “parent-in-laws” under the

On the anniversary of California’s statewide shelter-in-place orders, Governor Newsom signed legislation bringing back the statewide COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave.

The new statute requires employers to display a required poster issued by the California Labor Commissioner and which the Labor Commissioner issued on March 22, 2021. Like prior required posters, the notice includes

California currently has a patchwork of local COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave ordinances which remain in effect in 2021. But what about employers that are not located in those localities with a supplemental paid sick leave ordinance? Or employees who have exhausted supplement paid sick leave allotments?

Before the pandemic, California had the Healthy Workplace

California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) continues to advance toward the March 31, 2021 pay data collection deadline.  When SB 973 was passed in September, DFEH had six months to develop and implement a data collection system that could accomplish the task.  It is delivering.  DFEH issued its first guidance on November