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

In a major victory for whistleblowers, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of Trevor Murray, a former UBS employee who was fired after reporting what he believed to be illegal activity. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Murray v. UBS expands protections for whistleblowers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), making it easier for employees to challenge retaliatory termination. What the Case Was About Trevor Murray was a vice president at UBS who reported concerns about potential accounting irregularities to his superiors. After raising these concerns, Murray was fired. He sued ..read more

The popularity and accessibility of artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools, such as ChatGPT and Bard, have grown exponentially this year.  However, the careless use of these tools in legal settings can lead to embarrassment and even sanctions.  To test how reliable AI is for even basic legal research, we asked four popular AI search engines to write a blog about “the most important employment laws that a California business needs to know.” The full text of the blogs written by ChatGPT 3.5, Bard, Bing, and Perplexity can be found here.  The substance of each blog is fairly similar ..read more

The popularity and accessibility of artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools, such as ChatGPT and Bard, have grown exponentially this year.  However, the careless use of these tools in legal settings can lead to embarrassment and even sanctions.  To test how reliable AI is for even basic legal research, we asked four popular AI search engines to write a blog about “the most important employment laws that a California business needs to know.” The full text of the blogs written by ChatGPT 3.5, Bard, Bing, and Perplexity can be found here.  The substance of each blog is fairly similar ..read more

New Laws That Take Effect on January 1, 2024 SB 616 (Paid Sick Leave) SB 616 significantly expands California’s existing state paid sick leave law and provide more generous paid sick leave terms to employees.  Under SB 616, an employee is now entitled to a minimum of 5 days or 40 hours of paid sick leave (up from 3 days or 24 hours under prior law). Employers may still utilize an accrual method that allows employees to accrue paid sick leave at the rate of 1 hour for 30 thirty hours worked.  But, under SB 616, the employer’s accrual policy must be generous enough to allow an employee ..read more

In July of this year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a new version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.  The new version of Form I-9 is meant to streamline the employment eligibility verification for both the employer and the employee.  As of November 1, 2023, all employers are required to start using the updated Form I-9, Employment Verification Eligibility for all new hires. The New I-9 is Different The new Form I-9, with a version date of “(Rev. 8/01/23)” includes several updates: — Sections 1 and 2 have been reduced to a single-sid ..read more

Today’s New York Times contains an excellent article on the increasing use of so-called “stay or pay” clauses in employment agreements.  Once an employee signs a contract with a “stay or pay” clause, if that employee quits before X months/years (each contract is different), the employee will have to repay the employer for the costs incurred to recruit and train the employee.  Sometimes also called “training repayment agreement provisions,” or “TARPs,” these agreements have historically been popular in high-earning, specialized industries — like airplane pilots, healthcare workers, an ..read more

Ronald Hittle was the Fire Chief in Stockton, California.  In May 2010, the City received an anonymous letter describing Hittle as a “corrupt, racist, lying, religious fanatic who should not be allowed to continue as the Fire Chief of Stockton.”  It was later revealed that the letter came from a high-ranking manager in the Fire Department, who told the Deputy City Manager, Laurie Montes, that Hittle showed favorable treatment and gave more desirable assignments to a “coalition” of employees who shared his Christian faith. Montes spoke with Hittle about the allegations, telling him sh ..read more

The California Supreme Court recently issued its highly anticipated decision in Adolph v. Uber and answered the key question of whether the California courts would follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Viking River.  The California Supreme Court’s answer was a resounding “NO.”  Now, after Adolph v. Uber, an employee whose individual PAGA claims are sent to arbitration (as a result of signing the employer’s arbitration agreement) still has the right to pursue his representative PAGA claims in court. This decision from the California Supreme Court effectively erases the victory tha ..read more