As of October 1, 2025, California’s Civil Rights Council regulations under FEHA hold employers liable for discrimination arising from the use of automated decision systems (ADS) in hiring. The use of AI or other automated tools does not shield employers from liability; decisions made through such systems are treated as the employer’s own actions.
A number of California companies, especially in the tech industry are facing increased scrutiny over equal pay issues in recent years. While these types of claims have been hard to have certified as a class action on the federal level, some claims under California’s recent Equal Pay Act are seeing success. Here are five reminders
Pay equity and transparency laws are being considered within the United States and by many countries. For example, internationally, Europe is reviewing a potential law requiring all wages to be published, Iceland requires companies to prove pay equity since 2018, and a similar law in Canada has passed for employers with 10 or more employees.
If an employee is injured and is unable to work overtime (i.e., over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week), can an employer terminate the employee? Potentially. Employers may terminate employees who are unable to work overtime if this is an essential duty of the position. This Friday’s Five reviews when
Another Friday – another Friday’s Five. November 2017, a great time to have a refresher course on five obligations employers have under California law to prevent and correct any potential harassment and discrimination in the workplace:
1. Duty to prevent harassment
The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) requires employers to take “all reasonable steps
You may recall from your college business law class of the “American rule” regarding attorney’s 
fees: generally in the United States each side is responsible to their own attorney’s fees, and unlike other countries, the loser does not have to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees. Employers can basically ignore this general rule