Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
WHAT’S NEW IN 2024
LOS ANGELES COUNTY FAIR CHANCE ORDINANCE
Effective September 3, 2024
The nationwide “ban-the-box” movement is part of government’s effort to remedy blanket disqualification of persons with criminal records for any job. Ban-the box laws typically require employers to eliminate the criminal history question on a job application, reduce an employer’s accessibility to criminal records until after extending a conditional job offer, and require the criminal offense to be relevant for that job position for an employer to use it as a disqualifying factor.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 85
GONE POSTAL
USPS Tagged for Retaliation Against Injured Workers
Triggered by an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation, the federal Department of Labor (DOL) sued the U.S. Postal Service, obtaining a court approved settlement…
CHILL SKILL
California’s New Indoor Heat Rules July 23, 2024
New Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) indoor heat illness prevention regulations go into effect July 23, 2024. They apply to all indoor workplaces with temperatures of 82 degrees F or more when employees are present. Employers must take additional measures when the indoor temperature is at least 87 degrees F.
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.
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.