California’s Victims’ Leave law was expanded effective January 1, 2025, under Assembly Bill 2499.  These changes imposed new obligations and broadened existing ones.  Importantly, AB 2499 also imposed a new notice requirement, and on July 1, 2025, the Civil Rights Division published a model notice explaining employee rights under the law.

Employers are required to provide the new notice (available here: Survivors of Violence and Family Members of Victims Rights Leave and Accommodations) in multiple situations:

• At hiring (to new employees);
• Annually to all employees;

In the recent decision in Sanders v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the California Court of Appeal reinforced the consequences for employers who fail to timely pay arbitration fees in employment disputes.  This decision is another in a long line of cautionary reminders for employers to timely pay arbitration fees, as the failure to do so will result in not only the loss of the right to arbitrate, but also potentially severe sanctions.

Sanders tells an all too familiar story: after Sanders was terminated, she filed a putative class and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA ...

On May 14, 2025, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision in Rose v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., addressing whether the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) can be held liable for an employer’s litigation costs in an unsuccessful Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) action where the LWDA was not an active participant.

The plaintiff, a former cashier at Hobby Lobby, filed a representative PAGA action alleging violations of California’s “suitable seating” requirements. Following a nine-day bench trial, the court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby ...

In Chavez v. Hi-Grade Materials Co., the California Court of Appeal issued a ruling that significantly impacts how and when employees can appeal orders denying class certification, especially in cases involving both class claims and a Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claim. This decision is particularly important for California employers wary of facing wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA lawsuits.

The plaintiff, a former employee, brought a putative class action alleging various wage-and-hour violations and sought penalties under PAGA. After the trial court ...

In a significant development for California employers, the Court of Appeal in Williams v. Alacrity Solutions Group, LLC recently affirmed the dismissal of a Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claim brought solely on behalf of other employees, holding that a PAGA plaintiff must assert a timely individual claim to maintain standing.

The plaintiff, a former insurance adjuster, alleged various Labor Code violations during his employment, including unpaid overtime and inaccurate wage statements. However, he waited more than a year after his employment ended to file the ...

In the recent decision of Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, Inc., a California appellate court addressed the enforceability of prospective written meal period waivers for employees working shifts between five and six hours. The court affirmed that such waivers are valid under the California Labor Code and applicable Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders, provided they are mutual, voluntary, and revocable at any time.

In the Bradsbery case, two former employees of Vicar Operating, Inc., a veterinary hospital operator, filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the ...

This summer, California passed significant and much-needed legislation reforming the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which permits individual employees to sue employers on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California to recover civil penalties for California Labor Code violations.  If you are passionate about the intricacies of PAGA and wish to spend some quality time on a deep dive into what these changes mean for employers, feel free to check out our previous writing on the subject here.

Additionally, the California Labor & Workforce Development ...

California recently enacted a new law which generally prohibits employers from including statements in job advertisements, postings, applications, or other materials that an applicant must have a driver's license.  Effective January 1, 2025, Senate Bill 1100 amends the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to include this prohibition against requiring a driver’s license in employer materials, unless the employer can meet both of two conditions.

Specifically, in order for an employer’s pre-employment materials to include that an applicant must have a ...

A new California law will prohibit employers from requiring that an employee take earned vacation before receiving paid family leave (PFL) benefits.  Effective January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill 2123 amends the Unemployment Insurance Code, which previously allowed employers to require employees to exhaust up to two weeks of accrued but unused vacation leave as a condition of an employee’s initial receipt of these benefits.  For any period of disability commencing on or after January 1, 2025, an employer can no longer impose such a condition.

The state provides PFL benefits to eligible ...

The Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”), which permits individual employees to sue employers on behalf of themselves, other employees and the State of California to recover civil penalties for California Labor Code violations, has long garnered criticism for excessively penalizing employers and incentivizing frivolous lawsuits.  Business groups had proposed a ballot initiative for the upcoming election that sought to repeal PAGA and replace it with a new law which did not include the state in the collection of civil penalties and which provided resources for employers ...