As employers and employees adapt to the new realities of working from home on a permanent or modified basis, employers need to be aware of the employment law issues that arise with such arrangements.  This Friday’s Five covers five items employers should review for employees working from home:

1. Confidentiality and security.

Employers are able

California’s 2022 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave becomes effective tomorrow, February 19, 2022 (for background and basics about the new law, see our prior post here).  This week, the Labor Commissioner published additional resources just before the law becomes effective.  Below is a summary of the notice requirements (and with a link to the

[Update: On February 9, 2022, the Governor signed SB 114 into law – see our updated article here on the new California supplemental paid sick leave requirements enacted by this law].

This week, Assembly Bill 84 (AB 84) was published setting forth the parameters of a proposed law for another COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave

Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) apply to most workplaces in California, with very few exceptions.  Enacted in November of 2020, the ETS sets requirements for California employers related to COVID-19 protocols for exposures at the workplace and measures to take if employees are exposed to or catch COVID-19 at the workplace.  We have written about

This Friday’s Five focuses on five California employment related news items that got my attention this week:

1. California considering reinstating COVID paid sick leave in 2022.

As California’s supplemental paid sick leave expired in September 2021, and Governor Newsom decided not to extend it by executive order.  Now there are discussions of bringing COVID

On June 24, 2021, Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an Order mandating COVID-19 Vaccine Leave (“Vaccine Leave”) for employees who work in the City of Los Angeles. The requirements of the Order apply retroactively to January 1, 2021. The Order is currently set to terminate on its own on September 30, 2021, with minor exceptions for

(Thanks to Veenita Raj who co-wrote this week’s Friday’s Five)

An employer’s obligation to provide mandatory paid sick and family leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ended on December 31, 2020.  The FFCRA applies to employers with 500 or fewer employees.  The payroll tax credits for employers who voluntarily decided to continue

Legislation at the federal and state level this month changed many paid sick leave regulations for California employers.  California employers could be subject to at least five different paid sick leave laws spanning federal law, state law, state-regulations, and local government regulations.  As employers reopen in California, it is important to review the various paid

Governor Newsom

On April 16, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-51-20, which provides new paid sick leave to certain food service workers. Citing a need to fill a “gap” left by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which applies solely to employers with fewer than 500 employees, this new Executive Order provides up to 80 hours of “COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave” to defined food sector workers.

(Zaller Law Group is hosting a free webinar on Friday, April 24, 2020, to discuss this new Executive Order and answer your questions. Join us for Understanding California’s New Paid Sick Leave Requirements For Food Sector Employees.)

Here is what you need to know.

What employers are covered?

Executive Order N-51-20 applies to employers with 500 or more employees in the United States, including full-time and part-time workers but not including independent contractors. Employees on leave of any kind are counted, but employees furloughed or laid off are not counted unless and until they are reemployed.

The Executive Order expressly applies to any “Delivery Network Company” (companies that use a website or mobile app to enable local delivery of products/food from third-party merchants; think Postmates or GrubHub) and any “Transportation Network Company” (companies that provide transportation services using online apps/platforms that connect passengers with drivers using a personal vehicle; think Uber or Lyft) that employs 500 or more employees.

As with the FFCRA and FMLA, common employees of joint or integrated employers must be counted together.

There is one exception: if, as of April 16, 2020, the employer already provides a “supplemental benefit” such as paid leave that provides the same or greater benefit provided by this Executive Order, then the employer does not have to provide the COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave.

What employees are entitled to Supplemental Paid Sick Leave?

The Executive Order applies to “Food Sector Workers,” which it defines as any person who satisfies one of the following criteria:

Continue Reading California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Order: What Employers Need to Know