Blog
HOLIDAY PARTY SURVIVAL 101
Keep in Your Lane Idiot If an office seeks to pull off an in-person 2020 year-ending holiday gathering party (survival celebration?), pandemic social distancing is but the newest element in the planning and execution. Management must ensure such gatherings serve to acknowledge production and promote team morale, not to spiral out-of-bounds into an otherwise preventable […]
MINIMIZING LAYOFFS IN COVID TIMES
Work Sharing Plans for Cut-back Operations The newly streamlined Employment Development Department (EDD) Unemployment Insurance “work sharing” procedure enables employers to reduce costs in these tough pandemic times, without letting employees go. Work share plans are not new in California, if used infrequently. Instead of the tough choice of who is to stay and who […]
“AT-WILL” EMPLOYMENT
Not-So-Worry-Free Termination “At-will” employment status is commonly understood as an employer’s prerogative to abruptly terminate a worker for any reason at all. Not so fast. Originally adopted during the 1800s Industrial Revolution to provide greater workforce mobility, “at-will” did mean that either employer or employee could terminate or quit the relationship at any time, with […]
CALIFORNIA CORONAVIRUS SICK LEAVE
Cities and Counties Expanding Paid Leave Benefits With the pandemic persisting in California, local governments continue to issue emergency ordinances for workers to supplement Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) benefits. Since our last posting — California Coronavirus Response, Updated – Cities and Counties Requiring Paid Sick Leave Above and Beyond Federal Limits (July 23, 2020) — […]
WHAT’S NEW IN 2021 WORKPLACE TIME OUTS
California’s Expanded Family and Medical Leave Significantly Impacts Small Business Under existing law, employers with 50 or more on payroll are required to provide unpaid family and medical leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and those with 20 or more on payroll had to provide unpaid baby-bonding time off under the New Parent […]
SAVED BY THE PROP
Voters Pass Proposition 22; A Reprieve for California’s Gig Economy 58 percent of California voters have approved Proposition 22, allowing Uber, Lyft, PostMates, DoorDash, Instacart, and other gig economy companies to continue classifying their workers as independent contractors. Effective immediately, such drivers are no longer subject to the rigid ABC test first issued in California […]
THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN
We are Pasadena Weekly’s Best Law Firm … Again! For the second year running, our clients, fellow attorneys and other supporters have confirmed we are Pasadena Weekly’s best law firm. Thanks to all Southern California communities for allowing us to serve you since 1998.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2021 CALIFORNIA’S NEWEST INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR LAW PART 5
New “Music and Entertainer” Exemption from the Strict “ABC” Test In response to more than a year of meetings, fact-findings and discussions between legislators and the music industry, AB 2257 and new Labor Code 2780, effective September 4, 2020, provide a new music and entertainment industry exemption from the strict “ABC” test for independent contractor classification. Now eligible to […]
LIVE AND LET LIVE
Preventing Political Backlash In the Workplace California employers must not discriminate or retaliate against workers based on political activities, affiliations or speech. California Labor Code section 1101 bans employers from making, adopting or enforcing any rule, regulation or policy that: (i) forbids or prevents employees from engaging or participating in politics, including running for public office; or (ii) […]
WHAT’S NEW IN 2021 CALIFORNIA’S NEWEST INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR LAW PART 4
Amateur Umpires and Referees Among Expanded “Specified Occupations” Exceptions to Strict Test Purely a product of the political process, Assembly Bill (AB) 2257– through Labor Code section 2783 – has expanded exemptions from the severe “ABC” independent contractor classification test for specific industries/licensed professionals. See, Dodging the Bullet – The Industries and Professions Not Subject to California’s New Independent Contractor Restrictions (October 9, 2020). […]