Legal updates
All Gender Restrooms Required with Signage
Effective March 1, 2017, this new law will require all single-user toilet facilities in any business establishment, place of public accommodation, or government agency to be identified as all-gender toilet facilities. For the purposes of this new law, the term...
read moreRequesting Additional Documentation is an Unfair Immigration Practice
An amendment to the Labor Code makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to request more or different documents than required under federal law: to verify that an individual is not an unauthorized immigrant, or to refuse to honor documents tendered that...
read moreDetermining Exempt vs. Non-exempt Status
Due to the ever-increasing amount of litigation being filed over the “mis-classification” of an employee as exempt vs. non-exempt, it is critical to evaluate each job and determine the proper classification for compensation purposes. If an employee is mis-classified...
read moreUscis Published New I-9 Form
On November 14, 2016 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the new I-9 Form has been published. Below is information posted by the USCIS. The changes to the Form were designed to reduce errors and enhance form completion using a computer. To...
read moreDe Minimis Time …. Is It Compensable & Subject To A Wage Claim?
In mid August, the California Supreme Court agreed to hear a case filed against Starbucks Corp. to determine whether employees can bring wage-and-hour lawsuits over short periods of unpaid time; e.g. de minimis time. The lawsuit accuses Starbucks Corp. of not paying...
read moreArbitration Agreement Contained In An Employee Handbook Found Unenforceable
The question presented to the Court in this case is whether an arbitration provision in an employee handbook is legally enforceable. In the case before the Court, the employer had an employee handbook, as most employers have these days. Also very common, the handbook...
read moreSmoking In The Workplace – Vaping & Other Change
Legislation passed earlier this year changes some of the rules relating to smoking in the workplace and expand already-existing smoke-free workplace protections. The changes were effective on June 9, 2016. Existing law prohibits employers from knowingly or...
read moreForm I-9 Updated
In November 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced proposed changes to the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The Office of Management and Budget recently approved the final version of the new Form I-9, and the USCIS must...
read moreDivision Of Industrial Relations On-line Complaint Service
The Division of Industrial Relations (DIR) issued a press release on August 31, 2016 announcing their on-line complaint processing system to make it easier for alleged Labor Code violations to be made…..Just what California employers need…. The press release states in...
read moreAssistive/support Animals In The Workplace May Be A Reasonable Accommodation
Effective April 1, 2016, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) was amended to address numerous aspects of discrimination, harassment and other workplace issues. One issue that has become an recent “hot topic” is whether an employee is permitted to bring their...
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