Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Katharine Essick, JD, Sedgwick LLP A recent California decision provides employers with a useful review of the complex landscape of disability discrimination and identifies a number of signposts for the unwary. The most important lesson from this case, however, is that when an employer evaluates an employee’s disability, the legal consequences of a factual mistake—even an […]
Most California employers will see the state’s minimum wage reach $15 an hour by 2022 if reports of a deal in the state legislature materialize as expected. Reports in the Los Angeles Times and The Sacramento Bee on March 27 tell of a tentative deal between state lawmakers and union leaders that would phase in […]
by Mark I. Schickman San Francisco’s new Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights is set to be implemented July 1, meaning many retail employers will have new obligations that go beyond areas that have previously been regulated. The new law covers any retail establishment with 20 or more workers that shares a “formula” with at least […]
by Andrew J. Sommer and Alka Ramchandani San Francisco’s new “ban the box” law, titled the Fair Chance Ordinance, will limit the timing and scope of inquiries into an applicant’s or employee’s criminal history when it takes effect August 13. In addition to banning inquiries into criminal history on job applications, the ordinance also places […]
by Cathleen S. Yonahara A new California law taking effect January 1, 2014, grants overtime pay for at least the next three years to domestic workers who are personal attendants. Under old state law, “personal attendants” are exempt from statutory overtime and meal and rest break provisions, but they are not exempt from minimum wage […]
Maryland is expected to soon become the 19th state to legalize medical marijuana. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) told the Associated Press that he “probably” would sign the measure passed by the Maryland Legislature earlier this month. The bill would allow academic medical research centers to prescribe marijuana to critically sick patients under limited circumstances. […]
The flood of donning and doffing disputes under the Fair Labor Standards Act that we saw a few years back may have leveled off. But some pay issues relating to this routine taking off and putting on of clothes are not yet resolved. The Supreme Court had two opportunities in its current term to pick […]
by Mark I. Schickman Across America, California employment laws are considered very liberal, too far left. But, in England, the employment law of every American state is viewed as only a cut above indentured servitude. Their legal establishment is disdainful of America’s “regressive” employment laws, and many tribunals will simply refuse to enforce our “barbaric” […]
By Chris McFadden Employers that require workers to travel to and work within California may be subject to the state’s overtime laws even though their employees are nonresidents. The California Supreme Court decided last week that the California Labor Code applies to the overtime claims of three nonresident instructors who performed work within the state. […]
Dan read the following timely column by California Employment Law Letter editor Mark Schickman and thought Oswald Letter readers would enjoy it. Dan will be taking off next week but will return to his weekly column the following week. by Mark Schickman You’ve got an employee, Charlie, who has always been a wild thing. Too […]