Who will be our Country’s next President is not the only issue on the ballot November 3. If you’ve voted in California before, are in the middle of studying your ballot, don’t mute your TV commercials during election season, or read text messages that you receive from campaign volunteers, you know that California has a

Alysha Stein-Manes
Alysha Stein-Manes provides representation and counsel to LCW clients in all matters pertaining to labor, employment, and education law. Alysha primarily works as a litigator, representing public agencies and non-profit educational institutions at all levels of the litigation process in state and federal court and before administrative bodies. Her litigation practice includes all aspects of discovery, motion practice, and trial preparation, including deposition preparation and appearances, drafting demurrers and motions for summary judgment, and preparing pretrial motions and witnesses for trial. Alysha is developing expertise in the retirement and health arenas and regularly provides advice and counsel in the area of the Affordable Care Act, as well as retirement law for CalPERS, CalSTRS and ’37 Act agencies. She also represents agencies in CalPERS appeals before the Office of Administrative Hearings.
California Court of Appeal Clarifies Standard by Which a Public Agency’s At-Large Voting System Will Be Deemed to Violate the California Voting Rights Act, Having the Potential to Significantly Impact California Voting Rights Litigation
Last month, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District of California issued a decision in Pico Neighborhood Association, et al v. City of Santa Monica (Jul. 9, 2020, No. B295935) __ Cal.App.3d __ [2020 WL 3866741] (“Pico”), finding that the City of Santa Monica’s at-large voting system did not violate the…
New Year, New Laws, Old Goals: Addressing Systemic Compliance Issues in the New Year
How many times have you set a New Year’s resolution and a month or two into the New Year said to yourself, “oh well, maybe next year”? We all too often set personal and professional goals each year, only to give up or put them on the back-burner once we get behind in reaching those…
Can Sending an Emoji to a Colleague Expose Me or My Employer to a Claim for Harassment? Tips for Preventing Harassment Claims In the Age of Social Media
If you are a supervisory employee for a public agency or private school in California, or a member of your employer’s human resources department, you have most likely sat through a 2-hour supervisory training regarding preventing harassment in the workplace. You may know this training as “AB 1825 Training.” If you are a non-supervisory employee,…
California Court of Appeals Further Clarifies STRS’ Authority to Collect Overpayments Made to Retirees
Over the last several years, the California Courts of Appeal have addressed questions regarding the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s (CalSTRS) ability to collect overpayments of monthly retirement benefits paid to retirees because of, among other things, miscalculations of the retirees’ compensation earnable. A Court of Appeal handed down the most recent case, Blaser v.
Three is Company: Police Departments Usage of Drones and Robots and What it Means for Employer-Employee Relations
This post was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes and Daniel Seitz
Remote surveillance is an area of expanding interest for law enforcement agencies. Police departments continue to equip their sworn officers with body-mounted video cameras (“body cams”), and, in California, the Legislature has begun to regulate discoverability of body cam footage. Agencies in California and across…
The Census is Coming: Preparing Your Agency for 2020
This blog was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes.
April 1, 2020, is national Census Day and will kick off a year-long process of counting every resident in the United States. In California, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission (the “Commission”), a non-partisan commission comprised of democratic, republican and independent (decline-to-state or no party preference) voters, is…
Heroic Acts by California Peace Officers During the 2017 Las Vegas Shooting Inspire New California Law Allowing Employers to Extend Workers’ Compensation Protections to Peace Officers for Out-of-State Off-Duty Conduct
This blog was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes.
On October 1, 2017, several peace officers from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department were in attendance at the 91 Harvest Music Festival when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Fifty-eight people were killed and over 800 injured. Several of these peace officers brought other festivalgoers to…
New Year, New Laws, New Obligations
This post was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes.
As we ring in the new year, employers will be tasked with implementing new laws that Governor Brown signed into law this past fall. Here is a summary of a few major bills that go into effect on New Year’s Day:
1. AB 1976: Lactation Accommodations
AB…
Allegations of Sexual Misconduct, Student Discipline on Campus, and Due Process: Keeping Up with Rapidly Evolving Interpretations of State and Federal Laws
This blog was authored by Alysha Stein-Manes.
The manner in which institutions of higher education must address sexual assault in the educational context continues to evolve as both the federal government and courts weigh in on what procedures public and private colleges and universities must follow in order to comply with both Title IX…