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In special session on July 14, 2014, the San Diego City Council voted 6-3 in favor of enacting the San Diego Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance. The ordinance seeks to raise the San Diego minimum wage over the next three years, and mandates that employers within San Diego provide a minimum amount of earned paid sick leave, beyond that required by recently enacted California state law AB 1522 [click here for information regarding the requirements of AB 1522].

Although San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer vetoed the ordinance August 8, 2014, the San Diego City Council overrode the veto on August 18.
Continue Reading San Diego Enacts Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance

AB 2053 (click for California new law) was recently signed into law which requires California employers to update their AB 1825 training programs to include “Abusive Conduct.”

For purposes of the new law, “abusive conduct” means conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive,…

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law AB 2751, a “clean up” bill that expands the bases and remedies for immigrant-related retaliation, and clarifies the penalty and employee information provisions of AB 263 and SB 666.

AB 263 and SB 666 were enacted last year to protect immigrant workers against unlawful retaliation. These two bills have since operated in conjunction to prohibit employers from engaging in various “immigration-related practices” against employees who had exercised certain rights protected under state labor and employment laws. These “unfair immigration-related practices” included threatening to file or filing a false police report or threatening to contact or contacting immigration authorities in retaliation for some protected activity engaged in by the employee (e.g., filing a workplace complaint).
Continue Reading California Broadens Immigration-Related Retaliation Protections

Last week, California’s legislature submitted a bill for the Governor’s approval, Assembly Bill 2074, which would amend Labor Code section 1194.2 dealing with the provision of liquidated damages arising out of an employer’s failure to pay minimum wage.

Employees who believe their employer did not pay them all of their wages may bring a civil lawsuit seeking several forms of damages, including liquidated damages for failing to pay minimum wage.  Liquidated damages under Labor Code section 1194.2(a) are comprised of “an amount equal to the wages unlawfully unpaid and interest thereon” (i.e., on top of the unpaid wages and penalties, employees may obtain another set of damages equivalent to the unpaid wages plus interest).Continue Reading Proposed Amendment to Labor Code: Three-Year Statute of Limitations on Liquidated Damages Claim for Failure to Pay Minimum Wage

On May 15, 2014, the California Assembly passed a proposed amendment to California’s statute governing sexual harassment training.

Currently, the statute requires employers with 50 or more employees to ensure workplaces are free of sexual harassment by providing training to their supervisory employees at least once every two years.  Such training must include information regarding…

California Labor Code section 226 requires employers to provide accurate wage statements, and enumerates specific requirements for such wage statements.  The statute also provides for penalties should an employer violate section 226, and allows a prevailing employee to recover attorneys’ fees in connection with prosecuting claims for alleged wage statement violations.

On May 6, 2014,…

On October 10, 2013, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill, A.B. 556, to add “military and veteran status” to the list of categories protected from employment discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”).

When this bill becomes operative on January 1, 2014, the FEHA will prohibit harassment and discrimination in…

California Governor Brown has announced he will sign AB 10 tomorrow, in LA and Oakland, which will increase the CA state minimum wage effective July 1, 2014. See Brown’s statement: http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18221. Since many employers are engaged in budgeting for 2014 and beyond, this new development should be factored into such plans.

The California Governor signed into law AB 1964 which amends the Fair Employment & Housing Act (“FEHA”) to prohibit discrimination against individuals for the wearing of religious dress or the practice of religious grooming in the workplace. The FEHA already prohibits discrimination against “religious belief” or “observance.” However, the new amendment expressly states that religious dress…

                On October 7, 2011, Governor Brown signed AB 1396. The new law requires all employers doing business in California to draft written contracts for any agreements with employees that involve commissions as a method of payment for services. Commission wages are defined as compensation paid to any person for services rendered in the sale of an…