Over the last decade, the use of e-signatures has become the norm for human resources departments when onboarding new employees.  The advent of resources like DocuSign, Taleo, BabooHR, and others have made this process simple, efficient, and very user friendly.  But with these technological advances comes increased scrutiny from California courts – particularly when evaluating electronically signed arbitration agreements.

            Generally, for an e-signed arbitration agreement to be enforced, an employer must demonstrate, beyond a “preponderance of evidence”, that the ...

July 1^st Minimum Wage Increases

Each year on July 1st, a number of local municipalities and the County of Los Angeles raise their hourly minimum wage, based on changes to the consumer price index, and as required by local minimum wage ordinances. In contrast, and as we previously reported here, California customarily issues its annual hourly minimum wage rates each January 1st.

Beginning July 1, 2024, the following increases will apply to employers in the designated areas:

Over the weekend, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 1524 into law, an emergency provision clarifying that Senate Bill 478, the “hidden fees” law that went into effect this week, will not apply to restaurants, bar, food concessions, grocery stores, or grocery delivery services in the same way it will apply to businesses in other industries. SB 1524 arose from concern in the restaurant industry regarding the impact SB 478 would have on restaurants following the issuance of guidelines from the California Attorney General Office in May.

As a reminder, SB 478 revises applicable code ...

If you missed our last reminder, there is less than a week for most California employers to finalize and implement Workplace Violence Prevention Plans (“WVPP”) and have their employees trained on the company-specific policies by July 1, 2024.

As part of implementing the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, an employer’s designated “Crime/Workplace Violence Prevention Coordinator(s)” must physically go through each office or workplace and identify potential areas of concern or improvement and record their efforts in doing so.

Similarly, each Crime/Workplace ...

On March 11, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) revised independent contractor test took effect, under a Final Rule issued by the Wage and House Division of DOL. The rule for Employee or Independent Contractor Classification under the Fair Labor Standard Act (“FLSA”) was published on January 10, 2024.

The Final Rule applies the following six factors to determine whether an individual is an employee or independent contractor under the FLSA:

(1) opportunity for profit or loss depending on managerial skill;

(2) investments by the worker and the potential ...

On May 31, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 828, delaying the implementation of the recently passed healthcare minimum wage law, SB 525, by one month, from June 1, 2024 to July 1, 2024.  The applicable law, SB 525, was previously passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Newsom in October 2023.  In recent weeks, it was determined state budgetary concerns have made it practical to delay implementation of SB 525 by another month.  Further, all future increases to minimum wage under SB 525 will occur on July 1st of subsequent years, rather than June 1st.

Q: I am a property manager for a receiver who is administrating a large apartment complex. The receiver has directed that I make certain repairs, but not others demanded by some of the tenants. Some of the tenants have threatened to sue me for not making the unauthorized repairs, for what they claim is shoddy work, and for disrupting the quiet enjoyment of their units, because of the authorized work. The receiver has told me not to worry, that I can’t be sued without prior court approval. While that may be true, what happens if the court allows such lawsuits? While I understand the receiver ...

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently passed the Los Angeles County Fair Workweek Ordinance (the “Ordinance”), which generally requires that certain retail employers in the unincorporated areas of the County of Los Angeles give workers their schedules two weeks in advance, compensate them for last-minute schedule changes and provide at least ten hours between shifts.  The Ordinance will go into effect on July 1, 2025, and largely duplicates the Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance which became effective in the City of Los Angeles on April 1, 2023. The Ordinance ...

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a final rule largely banning the use of non-compete agreements nationwide.  The stated purpose of the rule is to address the substantially increased harm non-compete agreements have caused to fair competition in recent years.  While several states, including California, already have similar bans in place, the FTC determined that a nationwide rule was necessary as the state-by-state approach did not adequately address the issue.

The FTC estimates that approximately 30 million workers are currently covered by non-competes.  By wiping ...

On May 8, 2024, the California Attorney General’s Office released much needed and highly anticipated guidance on steps companies in California will need to take to ensure compliance with SB 478, California’s prohibition on “drip pricing” set to take effect on July 1, 2024.  These new guidelines are particularly helpful in detailing how companies in the hospitality and restaurant space can avoid running afoul of the new law.

As a reminder, SB 478, sometimes referred to as the “Honest Pricing Law" or the “Hidden Fees Statute”, revises applicable Civil Code provisions ...