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On September 17, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1383 (SB-1383), which significantly expands employee eligibility for family and medical leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).

The law, which will go into effect January 1, 2021, reduces the number of employees required for an employer to be covered under the CFRA and also expands the reasons why employees may take these leaves.

Currently, private employers with 50 or more employees working in a 75-mile radius are required to provide employees with leave under the CFRA, while private employers with 20 or more employees are required to provide limited leave time for baby bonding pursuant to the New Parent Leave Act (NPLA).

SB 1383 expands the leave entitlement to cover smaller employers, requiring employers with five or more employees to provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period for a qualifying reason. Qualifying reasons include:

  • Leave for the birth of a child of the employee or the placement of a child with an employee in connection with the adoption or foster care of the child by the employee;
  • Leave to care for a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner who has a serious health condition;
  • Leave because of an employee’s own serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of that employee, except for leave taken for disability on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions;
  • Leave because of a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of an employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the Armed Forces of the United States;

This list of qualifying reasons further expands leave entitlement beyond what employers are required to provide under the current CFRA and NPLA. Under SB 1383, qualified employees will be entitled to take leave to care for the serious health condition of a grandparent, grandchild, or sibling in addition to the current requirement covering an employee’s parent, child, and spouse or domestic partner.…

Continue Reading California expands Family Care and Medical Leave eligibility

California employers need to be aware of impending local minimum wage increases in 13 California cities and counties on July 1, 2020, under local ordinances.  The minimum wage will increase in the following localities on July 1 as described below.  Clients must make sure their minimum wage postings reflect these changes.

Locality Employers with 25

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On June 18, 2020, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued guidance mandating that face coverings be worn state-wide. While several California counties and cities have passed local laws requiring face coverings over the past few months, state public health officials had only previously recommended the use of face coverings.

Face covering requirements

People in California must wear face coverings when:

  • Inside of, or in line to enter, any indoor public space;
  • Obtaining services from the healthcare sector in settings including, but not limited to, a hospital, pharmacy, medical clinic, laboratory, physician or dental office, veterinary clinic, or blood bank;
  • Waiting for or riding on public transportation or paratransit or while in a taxi, private car service, or ride-sharing vehicle;
  • Engaged in work, whether at the workplace or performing work off-site, when:
    • Interacting in-person with any member of the public;
    • Working in any space visited by members of the public, regardless of whether anyone from the public is present at the time;
    • Working in any space where food is prepared or packaged for sale or distribution to others;
    • Working in or walking through common areas, such as hallways, stairways, elevators, and parking facilities;
    • In any room or enclosed area where other people (except for members of the person’s own household or residence) are present when unable to physically distance.
  • Driving or operating any public transportation or paratransit vehicle, taxi, or private car service or ride-sharing vehicle when passengers are present. When no passengers are present, face coverings are strongly recommended.
  • While outdoors in public spaces when maintaining a physical distance of six feet from persons who are not members of the same household or residence is not feasible.

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Continue Reading California now requires face coverings in public

On May 6, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-62-20, which dramatically expands workers’ compensation eligibility for employees who are diagnosed with COVID-19, as part of his continued plan to create a robust safety net for California workers. The Order creates a rebuttable presumption that employees who test positive for or are diagnosed with COVID-19 within 14 days of performing work at their place of employment contracted the virus while at work.

To be entitled to this presumption, an employee must show: (1) the employee was diagnosed with or tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of performing work at the employee’s place of employment and under the employer’s direction; (2) the work day at issue was on or after March 19, 2020; (3) the place of employment at issue was not the employee’s place of residence; and (4) when the employee was diagnosed with COVID-19, the diagnosis was done by a California board-certified physician and confirmed by further testing within 30 days of the initial diagnosis.…

Continue Reading California Executive Order expands workers’ compensation eligibility for employees diagnosed with COVID-19

On April 29, 2020, the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, signed into law two COVID-19-driven workforce ordinances: the Right of Recall Ordinance and the Worker Retention Ordinance.

The ordinances cover “Airport,” “Commercial Property,” “Event Center,” and “Hotel” employers, including:

  • Owners, operators, or managers of (i) Event Centers (g., concert halls, stadiums, sports arenas, racetracks, coliseums, and convention centers), (ii) Hotels with 50+ rooms or gross revenues exceeding $5 million in 2019, and (iii) any restaurant physically located on the premises of said covered Hotel.
  • Any employer that provides any service at any Airport it operates in the City or provides any service to any employer servicing these airports. This ordinance does not apply to airlines.
  • Owners, operators, managers, or lessees, including contractors, subcontractors, or sublessees, of a non-residential Commercial Property in the City that employs 25 or more janitorial, maintenance, or security service workers.

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Continue Reading Los Angeles City’s New Right of Recall and Worker Retention Ordinances

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have, a substantial impact on the U.S. workplace. We have prepared a series of FAQs compiled based on some of the more common questions that clients with California-based employees have posed to us over roughly the past six weeks.

These FAQs are general and high-level…

Health officials in six Bay Area counties – Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, and Contra Costa – have issued orders mandating the use of face coverings in public areas like essential businesses, common spaces, and on public transit. The San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, and Sonoma county orders went into effect on April 17; however, enforcement of the San Francisco, Alameda, and San Mateo county orders will not begin until 8 a.m. on April 22, 2020.  The Contra Costa and Marin county orders went into effect at 8 a.m. on April 20, 2020.

Acceptable face coverings

Under these orders, individuals should not purchase N95 or other factory-made masks in order to meet the requirements.  Those masks should be reserved for health care workers.  Instead, individuals should use any cloth, fabric, or other soft or permeable material, without holes, that covers only the nose and mouth and surrounding areas of the lower face – even if homemade.    Examples of acceptable face coverings include a scarf or bandanna; a neck gaiter; a homemade covering made from a t-shirt, sweatshirt, or towel, held on with rubber bands or otherwise; or a mask, which need not be medical-grade. …
Continue Reading Bay Area counties mandate face coverings for essential businesses and other public areas

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) passed on March 27, 2020, authorizing more than $2 trillion to battle COVID-19 and its economic effects on the U.S. economy. For U.S. employers, the CARES Act provides significant support in the form of loans for small businesses, a loan forgiveness program to encourage employers to retain their workforces during this difficult time, and expanded unemployment benefits applying in most cases to terminated employees, furloughed employees, and those given reduced hours. It also significantly expands the definition of who can receive unemployment benefits to include self-employed workers in the gig economy, independent contractors, and those who may not have an expanded work history.

Although a more fulsome discussion of the contents of the CARES Act can be found here, the purpose of this blog is to discuss certain provisions of the CARES Act on a high level and to identify concerns that employers may face in making the decision to furlough or reduce their workforce.…

Continue Reading To RIF, or Not to RIF: How federal loans can help small and mid-size businesses under the CARES Act

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. Department of Labor recently announced new guidance outlining ways states can be more flexible in administering and expanding unemployment insurance (UI) programs in order to assist employees affected by COVID-19.

Generally speaking, UI is a joint state–federal program that provides cash benefits to eligible workers. Although each state has discretion to establish its own eligibility guidelines, an employee typically is eligible for UI benefits if they:

  • Are unemployed through no fault of their own;
  • Meet certain work and wage requirements; and
  • Meet any other additional state requirements.

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Continue Reading States expand unemployment benefits for employees impacted by COVID-19

Beginning January 1, 2020, an individual’s deadline to exhaust their administrative remedies through advancing a charge of unlawful workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation with the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment (DFEH) will be extended from one year to three years.

Assembly Bill 9, known as the Stop Harassment and Reporting Extension (SHARE) Act, is a significant departure from California’s long-standing one-year statute of limitations and from the six-month statute of limitations period under federal law for claims made to the Employee Equal Opportunity Commission. In California, employment claims brought under the Fair Employment and Housing Act cannot be directly filed in court. Individuals must first exhaust their administrative remedies by filing a charge with the DFEH. Once the DFEH receives the charge, it can investigate the claim. If it determines that a violation of the FEHA has occurred, the DFEH may use its discretionary power to file a civil action on behalf of the aggrieved individual. If the DFEH is unable to determine whether a violation took place, or if an individual asks for an immediate right-to-sue letter (which is commonly the case, especially if the individual is represented by counsel), the DFEH closes its investigation and the individual has one year from the date of receipt of the right-to-sue letter to file a civil action against the employer.
Continue Reading California extends deadline to file employment claims from one year to three years