Governor Newsom formally concluded the 2024 legislative session by signing into law several new bills that greatly expand employee rights in California starting on January 1, 2025.  Between now and then, California employers should review their existing policies to ensure compliance with these laws in the new year. New State Minimum Wage (Prop 32) On... Read More The post Get Ready — New Employment Laws Coming in 2025 appeared first on Workplace Legal Employment Lawyers ..read more

A recent IRS private letter ruling will potentially allow employees more flexibility to determine how employer 401K contributions are paid out to them. The post New IRS Ruling Gives Employers and Employees More Benefits Flexibility appeared first on Workplace Legal Employment Lawyers ..read more

Governor Newsom signed AB 2299 which requires all California employers to prominently display a new whistleblower rights poster in the workplace effective January 1, 2025. The post California Employers Must Display New Whistleblower Rights Poster appeared first on Workplace Legal Employment Lawyers ..read more

This week Fast Company published an article about employee performance improvement plans (PIPs).  A PIP is a structured plan that is developed by the employer for an under-performing employee.  In general, a PIP (a) outlines specific areas where the employee is failing to perform satisfactorily, (b) states concrete improvements that the employer expects to see... Read More The post Employee Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) appeared first on Workplace Legal Employment Lawyers ..read more

California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) deputizes any employee who has experienced a violation of virtually any state employment law to sue to recover penalties arising out of violations he or she experienced – plus penalties arising out of violations committed against every one of his or her coworkers, and attorneys’ fees. The potentially massive liability under PAGA has been a nightmare for many California employers, making the PAGA law a target of lobbyists and industry groups since its inception.  Recently a PAC known as Californians for Fair Pay and Accountability – with ..read more

As we blogged about here back in March, this coming Monday, July 1st is the deadline for California employers to have implemented their newly required Workplace Violence Prevention Plans (WVPP).  July 1st is also the deadline by which employers must have conducted their first WVPP training with all employees. Cal-OSHA has created a template WVPP that employers can use as a reference.  You can download that template here.  You can read more about the new WVPP requirement here. At Workplace Legal, over the past few months, we’ve been helping our clients draft, implement, and train ..read more

The California legislature is notoriously hostile to mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment context.  That’s because the legislature believes employers have more negotiating power than employees; thus, the arbitration agreements that employers give to employees often have one-sided terms that heavily favor the employer.  The employee often feels that he has little choice and must sign the agreement if he wants the job. To remedy this perceived unfairness in bargaining power, the California legislature has enacted a series of anti-arbitration laws that apply in the employm ..read more

Earlier today, for the first time in over 25 years, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its enforcement guidance on unlawful workplace harassment.   Though not legally binding, this new guidance makes clear how the EEOC will enforce federal anti-harassment laws under the current administration. The EEOC’s new guidance provides clarity — and a new enforcement focus — in four key areas: Remote work.  Today’s guidance makes clear that workplace harassment can occur virtually.  That is, harassment that occurs by email, text message, videoconference, or ..read more

As a result of SB 553, which we blogged about here, on June 1, 2024 most California employers will be required to establish and implement a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan that includes several new mandates. A Written Workplace Violence Plan That plan must be in writing and must contain the following: Names or job titles of the persons responsible for implementing the plan. Procedures to obtain the active involvement of employees and authorized employee representatives in developing and implementing the plan. Procedures for the employer to accept and respond to reports of wor ..read more

Last week, in Jones vs. Riot Hospitality Group LLC, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a plaintiff’s employment discrimination suit because the plaintiff was found to have destroyed evidence. During the litigation in the trial court, the employer became concerned that the plaintiff had destroyed text messages between herself and other witnesses.  So, employer convinced the trial court to order the parties to jointly retain a forensic expert to review plaintiff’s phone and the phones of three other witnesses.  Following the expert’s review of the witnesses’ p ..read more