Author Archive
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
CALIFORNIA MINIMUM WAGE
RATES INCREASES
Effective January 1, 2025, California minimum wage will increase to $16.50 per hour for all employers, regardless of size.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
LET YOUR PEOPLE GO
Feds and California Ban “Captive Audience” Staff Meetings
Effective January 1, 2025, SB 399 bans employers from holding any mandatory meetings (also called “captive audience meetings”) to discuss politics or religion with their employees, defining those subjects as…
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
STAY IN YOUR LANE
Driver’s License Discrimination
Since 2014, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) has prohibited national origin discrimination against an individual for holding a so-called “AB 60” driver’s license available to undocumented workers under California Vehicle Code 12801.9. However, this has not barred employers for rejecting applicants or terminating workers for lacking any driver’s license.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2024
SAN DIEGO COUNTY FAIR CHANCE ORDINANCE
Effective October 10, 2024
The nationwide “ban-the-box” movement is part of government’s effort to remedy blanket disqualification of job applicants with criminal records.
FIND OUT WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
ANSWERS GALORE
Annual Virtual Seminar for Employers
Friday, January 17, 2025 Friday, February 28, 2025
Covering Employment Legal Essentials and New Workplace Laws
Secure your spot for our virtual sessions on “what’s new” in California employment law for 2025.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
FREELANCE WORKERS PROTECTIONS
SB 988: New Rules for Independent Contractor Status
Effective January 1, 2025, SB 988 provides new protections for freelance workers.
“Freelance worker” is defined as an individual or single-person organization, incorporated or not, which a hiring entity engages “as a bona fide independent contractor to provide professional services” of $250 or more, either singly or combined with services in last 120 days.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
COMBO PROTECTION
California Recognizes Hybrid Forms of Workplace Discrimination
Recently enacted Senate Bill 1137 clarifies that California’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws based on protected classifications – such as race, gender, age, disability and sexual orientation – also apply to “intersectional identities” in which two or more of these classifications can result in a unique form of discrimination.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
TWO BITES
Local Government Workplace Discrimination Laws Coming
Since the 1959 enactment of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the statewide Civil Rights Department (CRD) (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or DFEH) has been the sole authority to enforce workplace discrimination laws.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
UNSPLITTING HAIRS
Race Discrimination Clarified
As previously reported, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits racial discrimination for an employee’s and applicant’s “historically” race-related hairstyles under the 2019 Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act.