Before 2020, the City of Santa Monica was one of a handful of cities that had a right of recall ordinance. However, since the beginning of the pandemic, many local governments enacted right to recall ordinances to return displaced workers to their prior positions.  Recently, the state joined these local governments, passing SB 93 relating

In mid-November, as cases continued to rise, the California Department of Public Health issued a “travel advisory” which recommended quarantining for those who returned to the state from other states or countries. The advisory distinguished between “non-essential travel” such as tourism and “essential travel” such as for work, study, economic services, immediate medical

On December 3, 2020, the state issued a new regional stay-at-home order which requires additional industries to close or scale back operations based on intensive care unit (ICU) capacity in the region. The order separates the state into five separate regions, as opposed to the county-by-county approach used in previous regulations. The Bay Area region

As California employers recover from the whirlwind of the 2020 Legislative Session, one bright spot is the Governor’s veto of Assembly Bill 3216, which would have established statewide recall rights and right of retention for laid-off employees. The Governor stated he had a concern of creating a “patchwork of requirements in different counties.” While

On September 30, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2479, which extends until January 1, 2026, the exemption from the rest period requirements for specified employees who hold a safety-sensitive position at a petroleum facility and are required to respond to emergencies.  Before the passage of this legislation, the exemption was scheduled to remain

On June 23, 2020, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an emergency ordinance temporarily creating a right to reemployment for certain employees laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ordinance, titled “Back to Work” emergency ordinance, requires that as certain employers reopen,  they must first seek to rehire the employee who previously held

Soon after San Jose passed its supplemental paid sick leave ordinance to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, it issued further guidance regarding the leave. The Director of the Office of Equality Assurance, the office charged with enforcement of the emergency ordinance, has also issued an opinion letter to provide additional information.

The opinion letter addresses