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
Legislation
Governor Newsom Signs SB 1159 and AB 685 Into Law Impacting COVID-19 Related Workers’ Compensation Coverage and Creating New Notice and Reporting Requirements Related to COVID-19 Workplace Exposures
On September 17, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two COVID-19 related bills – Senate Bill (“SB”) 1159 and Assembly Bill (“AB”) 685. SB 1159 is an urgency bill that is now effective immediately, and sets forth rebuttable presumption standards to establish workers’ compensation coverage for employees who contract COVID-19. AB 685 modifies…
AB 2147 Clears Career Paths for Formerly Incarcerated Persons Trained as Firefighters
While skies all over California were turned strange colors by fire and smoke on September 11, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147 into law. Passed by a 51-12 majority in the Assembly and a unanimous 30-0 vote in the Senate, this law creates new Penal Code section 1203.4b, designed to make it easier for…
2020 Vision: Setting our Sights on the Year Ahead
This may be hard to believe, but in three weeks, we will be living in the year 2020. I find this fact particularly surprising, as I often refer to events of the mid-90’s as incidents that occurred “a few years ago.”
Whether we acknowledge it or not, though, time marches on. Annually in California, employers…
Three New Labor And Employment Law Bills That Will Impact Public Employers
Just prior to the October 13, 2019 deadline to sign/veto bills from this year’s Legislative Session, Governor Gavin Newson signed several labor and employment law bills into law that will bring about significant changes for California public employers beginning next year. Below are summaries on three of these new bills that will go into effect…
Pending Legislative Bills Relevant to Public Agencies – Awaiting the Governor’s Signature or Veto
January 1, 2020 may bring a number of significant changes to California law for public employers. Following the end of the Legislative Session on September 13, 2019, a number of proposed laws were passed by the Assembly and Senate and now await final approval by Governor Gavin Newson. He has until October 13, 2019 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…
DFEH Provides Guidance on Impact of New SB 1343 Harassment Training Requirements: Some Questions Answered, Many Still Remain – Including Possibility that ALL Supervisory and Nonsupervisory Employees Need to Be Trained or Retrained Again in 2019
Note: Please see our August 30, 2019 Special Bulletin, with information on Senate Bill 778 which now delays the implementation of the new harassment training requirements and any refresher training until calendar year 2020. As urgency legislation, SB 778 went into effect immediately upon Governor Newsom’s approval of the law on August 30, 2019. …
Court — and Legislature — Limit Employer Use of “Offer of Compromise” in FEHA Litigation
This post was authored by Jeffrey C. Freedman.
What happens when two totally valid legislative goals—that happen to contradict each other—collide? Like the title of the 2003 film with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson, “Something’s Gotta Give!” In Huerta v. Kava Holdings, Inc., decided this past November 14, the collision was between a Code…
Employers May Soon Be Required to Accommodate Employee Use of Medical Marijuana
This post was authored by Megan Lewis.
Since recreational marijuana was legalized in 2016, many have assumed that employment protections for marijuana users would likely expand, either via legislation or though litigation.
We are already seeing small steps in that direction. For instance, San Francisco recently amended its ban-the-box ordinance to, among other things,…