Archive for the ‘Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation’ Category
CALIFORNIA LAW PROTECTS UNDOCUMENTED EMPLOYEES FROM WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION
As we have described in California’s Expanded Immigration-Related Protections and California Extends Protections for Whistleblowing Employees, several California laws protect employees, regardless of undocumented status, from actual or threatened retaliation for demanding workplace rights. These state protections of immigrant workers, some of the strongest nationwide, would seem at odds with the federal law (Title 8, […]
SAN FRANCISCO MINIMUM WAGE ESCALATES TO $12.25 ON MAY 1, 2015
City Employers Must Also Post Poster Specifying this Requirement Commencing May 1, 2015, all employers (regardless of where located) must pay wages of at least $12.25 per hour to each employee who performs work in San Francisco (including temporary and part-time employees). As discussed in our prior blog article San Francisco Minimum Wage Escalates to […]
CHANGING TIMES DEPARTMENT
New Definition of Spouse Under Federal Family Medical Leave Act Now Includes Same Sex Couples Prior to 2013, same sex spouses had no FMLA leave benefits regardless of whether their residence state recognized same sex marriages. However, U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in U.S. v. Windsor struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act which […]
CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL VIOLENCE TO GET REGULATORY INJECTION
Health Care Worker Fatality Rate Has Been Twice for All Other Industries Combined New Labor Code section 6401.8 requires state government, no later than July 1, 2016, to adopt required standards for acute general care and acute psychiatric hospitals plans to prevent workplace violence. The new statute is from Senate Bill (SB) 1299, approved by […]
CALIFORNIA LABOR LAWS 2015 UNFAIR IMMIGRATION-RELATED PRACTICES
California Extends Protections For Whistleblowing Employees As relayed a year ago in California’s Expanded Immigration-Related Protections, this state provides the most stringent retaliation protections for immigrant workers in the country. Effective January 1, 2015, California employer obligations in this area are increased again. Labor Code section 1019 has prohibited any California business from engaging in […]
CALIFORNIA LABOR COMMISSIONER PROVIDES THE FAQ’S ON NEW PAID SICK LEAVE BENEFITS LAW
As covered in Mandatory Paid Sick Leave for California Employees, AB 1522 requires each California employer, regardless of size (and except for those with collective bargaining agreements and other very limited exemptions), to provide paid sick leave benefits to any temporary, part-time and full-time employee once he or she has worked for that company in […]
CALIFORNIA’S PAID SICK LEAVE NOTICE AND POSTER MUST IMPLEMENTED JANUARY 1, 2015
Wage Theft Notice and Poster Template Now Available As reported in “Mandatory Paid Sick Leave for California Employees” California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (Assembly Bill [AB] 1522) requires nearly all California employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees. While affected employers do not need to provide paid sick leave until July 1, […]
CALIFORNIA LABOR LAWS 2015 INTERNS AND TRAINEES NOW PROTECTED FROM HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION
Effective January 1, 2015, California Assembly Bill 1443 plugs a gap that had left interns, trainees, and others lawfully involved in unpaid work experience unprotected from unlawful harassment and discrimination. Since its enactment in 1980, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) has prohibited employers from discriminating against “any person … in compensation or in […]
CONTRACTOR MISCLASSIFICATION…CLASS ACTION?
California Supreme Court Decides When Independent Newspaper Carriers May Challenge Their Classification as a Class Class action suits challenging company-wide workplace practices and thus posing crippling damage amounts have become big business in California and across the country. See, e.g., our blogs “The Devil is in the Details: Employment Class Action Suits Can Hinge on […]
PREVENTING WORKPLACE BULLYING
Abusive Conduct Prevention Training Now Required Every Two Years Effective January 1, 2015, a California employer must include prevention of abusive conduct as a component of legally-mandated sexual harassment training and education. (Assembly Bill [AB] 2053). Existing law requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least two hours of interactive training and […]