Author Archive
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 95
NOT SO FAST
Feds Seek to Slow FedEx Remote Work Elimination for Disabled Employees
On the recent trend to direct workers back to the office, employers should not overlook teleworking as a reasonable accommodation for a disabled employee.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 94
PEE-UW!
Cal/OSHA Fines Two Plumbing Companies For Safety Violations and Worker Injury
California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued $529,640 in citations to Smelly Mel’s Plumbing and Sewer Rat Plumbing after a trench collapsed on a San Mateo sewer line construction site, seriously injuring a worker buried under debris.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
END OF AN ERA
Key COVID Regulations Lifted
As of February 3, 2025, California employers no longer have to maintain a COVID-19 model written program or provide written notice to close contacts and COVID cases.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
New California Physicians and Surgeons Overtime Exemption Rates
California Labor Code section 515.6 exempts certain licensed physicians and surgeons from overtime compensation upon receipt of specified minimum hourly compensation.
California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has announced its rate increases for this minimum, effective January 1, 2025, to $103.75, up from $101.22, reflecting the 2.5% increase in the California Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
WORKPLACE BASICS
Employee Policy Handbook & Forms for 2025
In our upcoming annual virtual seminar for employers, Friday, February 28, 2025), we will again emphasize that current, clearly stated workplace policies are a business’s frontline protections against Labor Code claims.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 93
NOT SO SAFEWAY?
Cal/OSHA Cites Supermart for Serious Hazardous Conditions in Warehouse
When Cal/OSHA inspected Safeway’s large warehouse in Tracy, CA, it found “significant safety violations” meriting $182,000 in penalties.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
EDUCATION EDGE
Annual Virtual Seminar for Employers
Friday, February 28, 2025
Covering Employment Legal Essentials and New Workplace Laws
Last chance for 2025 to attend our annual HR law update and refresher.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 92
PREGNANT WORKER DISCRIMINATION
Company Pays Big for Brushing Off Accommodations
Castle Hills Master Association Inc. (Castle Hill), the Texas employer of a disabled pregnant worker, failed to accommodate her time-off request for doctor-prescribed bed rest because she was ineligible for Family and Medical Leave or short-term state disability benefits. Instead, the property management company terminated her.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed court charges against Castle Hill for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The parties settled the case. Castle Hill is paying the pregnant worker $55,000 and will take measures to ensure employment opportunities for disabled individuals. It will also create protocols for handling reasonable accommodations for disabilities and train all employees on the protocols and ADA.
PREVENTION 101
Mandatory Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
Every two years, employers with five or more on payroll must provide at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive sexual harassment prevention training and education to all California supervisory employees and at least one hour of such training to all nonsupervisory employees working on-site or remotely within California. New employees must complete this training within six months of hire.
