It has arrived! The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health has published and released a Model Workplace Violence Prevention Plan and information for employers and employees regarding the new workplace safety and violence prevention rules mandated by the recently enacted SB 553. The new law requires almost all California employers to implement a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan by July 1, 2024. Employers who have fewer than 10 employees and are not accessible to the public are exempted from the requirement.Read more
Voiding Illegal Non-Compete Clauses- Employers Are Required to Notify Current and Past Employees by Valentine’s Day
California has frowned on employee noncompetition agreements for a long time, but some employers still use them or try to disguise them as non-solicitation agreements. If that is the case in your Company, you will need to provide your affected employees with a personalized notice explaining that the non-competition agreement or the offending clause in the employment agreement is void by Valentine’s Day—February 14, 2024.Read more
Navigating the New Norm: California’s COVID-19 Regulatory Revamp
In a recent update on January 9, 2024, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has introduced changes to COVID-19 regulations, some of which directly impact Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Standards that remain in effect until February 3, 2025.Read more
Coming to an Employee Near You: More Paid Sick Leave
California employers will soon need to provide employees with a minimum of five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave annually, up from the current requirement of three days or 24 hours.Read more
Minimum Wage Goes Up Again for California Municipalities
Here we go again. It’s that time in the summer when San Francisco, Los Angeles and about a dozen cities and counties compete for the title of Highest Minimum Wage in the state. This year, the award goes to the city of West Hollywood, in Southern California, whose new minimum wage of $19.08 will have the honor – or infamy – of being the highest minimum wage in the country.Read more
It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over – Revised COVID Rules
A Plethora of New COVID Rule Abounds
Public Health and Workplace Safety Officials at every level of government have been very busy crafting and issuing new rules and guidance for individuals and employers regarding which COVID-19 protections can be abandoned –and which should be kept–moving forward.
Most of the new rules relax previous standards and regulations and some conflict with one another. This can be confusing for employers.Read more
Mixed News for Employers on Arbitration Agreements
Rulings on arbitration agreements continue to come thick and fast. Arbitration is a dispute resolution procedure where legal disputes are resolved by private arbitrators – typically retired judges – rather than in the public court system. Employers generally consider arbitration to be a more favorable forum for deciding disputes than litigating in court, though the costs to arbitrate are expensive.Read more
Mask and Vaccine Mandates for Health Care Workers to be Lifted
Health care workers in California can take a breath of fresh air. The California Department of Public Health announced that the statewide Covid-19 related mask mandates will expire on April 3, 2023.Read more