Senate Bill 657, a new law which becomes effective on January 1, 2022, in recognition of the prevalence of remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, permits employers to email required employment postings to employees. However, the law specifies that such email distribution “shall not alter the employer’s obligation to physically display the required posting.” Thus, notices requiring posting must still be physically displayed in the workplace, in a conspicuous and easily accessible location, such as an employee lunchroom or bulletin board.

Although SB 657 does not ...

On January 1, 2022, Senate Bill 62, the Garment Worker Protection Act, will become effective, making California the first state to ban piece rate pay for garment workers. SB 62 prohibits any “employee engaged in the performance of garment manufacturing” from being “paid by the piece or unit, or by the piece rate.” The law creates a compensatory damages penalty of $200 per employee against a garment manufacturer or contractor, payable to the employee, for each pay period in which each employee is paid by the piece rate. “Garment manufacturing” is defined to include sewing ...

In early November the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would be requiring applicable healthcare facilities to have a policy in place ensuring that eligible staff receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine series by December 5, 2021 and to have completed the series by January 4, 2022. The failure to comply with the requirement would place an organization’s Medicare funding in jeopardy. On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, Judge Terry A. Doughty, a United States District Court Judge sitting in Louisiana, issued an injunction stopping enforcement of ...

On November 15, 2021, a Los Angeles City Council ordinance aiming to drastically reduce single-serve plastic utensils within the city went into effect.

Restaurants with more than 26 employees are required to remove all single-use disposable food-ware dispensers from common areas. Additionally, these restaurants are required to stop including plastic utensils and napkins with takeout orders or for dine-in meals unless customers specifically ask for them. If restaurants use an online ordering platform or third-party food delivery service, they are required to require ...

As part of the larger trend of invasion of privacy claims asserted by employees or consumers against businesses, several states have recently passed legislation that sets forth requirements for the collection, storing and dissemination of biometric information such as fingerprints, voice recordings and even keystroke patterns. See, e.g., California Civil Code Sections 1798.100, 1798.140(b). Similar statutes have been enacted in Illinois, Washington and New York.

As claims arising from the collection and disclosure of biometric information proliferate, businesses faced ...

COVID-19 has had a unique and continued impact on health and safety requirements in the workplace.  As a result, laws are being revised to catch up to the current work climate. Assembly Bill 654, which amends California Labor Code sections 6325 and 6409.6, is one such law. The amendments to these two statutes which initially established California’s COVID-19 notice and reporting requirements went into effect on October 5, 2021 and the statutes themselves shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2023.

What Does AB 654 Do?

Amendment to Labor Code § 6325

As a minor amendment to this ...

A federal judge in the Southern District of New York dismissed a fraud and misrepresentation action against Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., a food company whose brands include Sara Lee, Brownberry, and Entenmann's. Plaintiff Monica Boswell brought an action against Bimbo, alleging that the company violated several New York consumer protection statutes by fraudulently advertising one of its products as an “All Butter Loaf Cake” when, in reality, the cake includes other ingredients in addition to butter, such as soybean oil and artificial flavors. 

Bimbo filed a motion to dismiss ...

Less than one week into LA’s SafePass proof of vaccine requirements for businesses went into effect, the Los Angeles City Council (the “Council”) voted 10-0 to remove malls and shopping centers as covered businesses. Mall operators have pointed to the difficult of enforcing the ordinance because malls and shopping centers have so many different points of entry. It remains unclear when the revisions to the ordinance will go into effect. Malls and shopping centers remain covered businesses under the ordinance until the language is formally changed, but the ordinance is not ...

“It is the intent of the Legislature to afford all Californians, regardless of whether they have disabilities, with protections to ensure equal pay and equal treatment in the workplace.” These are the closing words of the preface to Senate Bill 639; a noble goal. However, the good intentions paving the way for this new law – equalizing the monetary playing field for employees with disabilities – may result in more harm than good for some of those very workers.

Before SB 639 was passed, employers could apply to the Industrial Welfare Commission for a special license, renewable ...

On November 8, 2021, SafePassLA officially went into effect. The Los Angeles City ordinance requires patrons of covered locations to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 before entering indoor spaces. Specifically, covered locations include:

• The indoor portions of all establishments where food or beverages are served, including but not limited to, restaurants, bars, fast-food establishments, coffee shops, tasting rooms, cafeterias, food courts, breweries, wineries, distilleries, banquet halls, and hotel ballrooms;
•  Gyms and fitness venues ...