Blog
WHAT’S NEW IN 2024
HEALTH CARE FACILITY PAY HIKES TEMPORARILY DELAYED
As previously reported, effective June 1, 2024, Senate Bill 525 created Labor Code sections 1182.14 and 1182.15 to substantially increase minimum wage for health care workers in various facilities, eventually raising the minimum wage to $25/hour, superseding local minimum wage laws.
A CUT-FINE BORDERLINE
A Limit to California’s Pregnancy Disability Protections Short Lived?
In a rare act of limiting the reach of California’s workplace discrimination laws, an appeals court has denied pregnancy leave protection to a worker allegedly fired for taking time off for egg retrieval and freezing procedures. Paleny v. Fireplace Products (June 27, 2024).
The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) directs employers with at least five on payroll to provide pregnancy disability leave (PDL), transfer and/or other reasonable accommodation due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. A woman is “disabled by pregnancy” by a medically confirmed (i) inability because of pregnancy to perform any one or more of her job’s essential functions without undue risk to herself, her baby, or others; or (ii) pregnancy-related suffering from severe morning sickness, required time off for prenatal or postnatal care, bed rest, gestational diabetes, or other pregnancy-related physical conditions. Emphasis supplied. See, Pregnancy Accommodation in California (November 15, 2018)
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 84
WOLFMAN’S EXTINCTION LOOMS
Supermarket Chain Charged for Allowing Years of Sexual Harassment
Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. is a northwest supermarket institution, a rags-to-riches monument. Namesake Frederick G. Meyer (originally Frederick Grubmeyer) began in Portland, Oregon in 1908, “selling coffee from a horse-drawn cart to workers at farms and lumber camps.” https://www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/history. The chain’s watchword for a century-plus has been Customer service (with a capital “C”), a safe, convenient and now gargantuan one-stop shopping experience emulated by Target and others.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 83
SALONS NAILED
Parlors Pay Dearly for Workplace Violations
The federal Department of Labor, through its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has secured a $753,500 judgment against three Rhode Island nail salons and their owner for…
GRIN AND BEAR IT
Political Views in the Workplace
Several California laws prohibit employers from taking action against workers for political activities, affiliations or speech.
HIRING AUTHORIZED WORKERS
I-9 Forms Best Practices
Employers must properly complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (the I-9 Form) for every new hire.
SMOOTH SAILING
Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2024
Written Labor Code-compliant policies make for smoother workplace interactions and relationships, minimizing the changes of worker legal claims.
PAGA MONSTER DECLAWED
Major Relief for Responsible Employers
For more than a decade, use of California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) against conscientious employers – holding many up for civil suit ransom as the better choice to business closure – has grown to pandemic proportions with little benefit to the workers the law was designed to protect.
CALIFORNIA MINIMUM WAGE MID-YEAR RATE INCREASES
Effective January 1, 2024, California minimum wage increased to $16 per hour for all employers, regardless of size.
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WORK TIME OFF FOR VIOLENT CRIME VICTIMS
Employers must provide unpaid leave of any length to victims of crimes or public offenses (domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or crimes causing physical or mental injury), as well as to those threatened with physical injury (Crime Leave).