Many local counties and cities are increasing the minimum wage that applies to employers within their jurisdiction on July 1, 2019. Below is a list of some southern California counties and cities minimum wage requirements. Some local governments require employers to update the required posters given the new increases taking effect on July 1, 2019
Five items to understand about severance agreements in California
This Friday’s Five is a video covering five common questions about severance agreements in California:
- When are severance agreements appropriate in California?
- What are common terms in severance agreements? Such as a non-disparagement clauses and reference clauses.
- How much of a payment is required to the employee in a severance agreement?
- What is a section
New hire checklist for California employers
California employers have many state and local hiring requirements in terms of the various notices that must be provided to new employees. Employers should also carefully review the hiring documentation to ensure that additional documents that could benefit the company are also being provided to the new hires. This Friday’s Five sets out five key
Best practices to reduce liability and defend against employment litigation
There is no silver bullet for California employers to avoid workplace disputes and litigation. However, by focusing on a few key best practices, employers can reduce the likelihood of litigation, and if sued, the practices will make defending litigation much easier and can result in a better outcome. Here are my top five employer practices
Five misunderstandings about disciplining employees
In working with employers are various sizes, backgrounds, sophistication, and industries, I’ve seen a lot of confusion and simple misunderstandings about what constitutes employee discipline and how to properly document employee performance issues or discipline. This Friday’s Five reviews five common misunderstandings about discipline and documentation:
1. If it was not a formal write-up put
Five steps to workplace investigations
This Friday’s Five lists five action items employers should utilize when conducting harassment investigations:
1. Selecting the investigator
Employers should take time to train an in-house person who can conduct harassment investigations. This person, usually someone from Human Resources (but it does not need to be) should have additional experience and training about how to
Understanding the ABC test for independent contractors in California
This Friday’s Five is a video (see video below) that reviews the ABC test for independent contractors as set forth in the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903. The five issues I discuss in the video include:
1) Part A of the test
Discounted meal policy requiring employees to stay on company premises upheld
In Rodriguez v. Taco Bell Corp., 896 F.3d 952 (9th Cir. 2018), an employee brought a putative class action alleging that Taco Bell’s discounted meal policy effectively denied employees the ability to take a duty free meal break. At issue in this case was Taco Bell’s policy of offering a discounted meal from the
Employers’ training obligations under California law
California employers have many different obligations to train employees on certain issues. The primary training obligation that applies to nearly every employer (with 5 or more employees) is to provide sexual harassment prevention training. However, as set forth below, different industries have different standards, and employers need to review the requirements that pertain to their
Department of Labor proposes higher salary level to qualify as an exempt employee: What California employers need to understand
On March 7, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a proposed rulemaking to increase the salary level that employees must receive in order to qualify as an exempt employee. The DOL sets standards under the Federal Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), but California employers are also required to comply with California’s wage