Just kidding.  It may not be fun, but the new Form I-9 issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may be used immediately. Finalized on November 14, 2016, the new version of the Form is available here https://www.uscis.gov/i-9 . Employers will not be permitted to use the old version of Form I-9 (dated 03/08/2013) as of January 22, 2017.   The new version asks for “other last names used” rather than “other names used,” and streamlines certification for certain foreign nationals.  Other changes include: the addition of prompts to ensure information is ...

Existing regulations establish heat illness prevention standards for outdoor workers.  The regulations include requirements for providing sufficient drinking water at no charge to the employee, allowing for recovery or “cool down” periods, providing shade when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and creating written safety standards.Senate Bill 1167 expands California’s heat illness regulations to protect indoor employees.  The bill requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to propose by July 1, 2019, a heat illness and injury prevention ...

QUESTION:  I am a receiver in a case where the court issued an injunction staying all litigation and creditor action against the entity and assets in receivership. A secured creditor wants to foreclose on one of the estate’s assets. Can it do that? What is the procedure for the creditor to obtain relief from the stay?

ANSWER: The first thing to remember is that receiverships are not bankruptcy cases. Too often, parties to receivership cases analogize to bankruptcy proceedings. While this is understandable, e, especially given the local rules in some courts which provide the receiver ...

Effective January 1, 2017, Assembly Bill 1843 prohibits hiring-related inquiries concerning juvenile convictions or from using information regarding juvenile court actions or custodial detentions as a factor in determining any condition of employment.  The new law expands upon recent legislation that restricted the use of expunged, sealed or dismissed juvenile convictions, and is representative of a nationwide trend of restricting inquiries regarding prior convictions.

This blog is presented under protest by the law firm of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP.  It is essentially the ...

QUESTION:   If I discover possible criminal wrongdoing, am I, as receiver, required to report it to authorities?

ANSWER:

The answer depends on whether you are a federal receiver or state court receiver. 18 U.S.C. § 3057(a) provides: “Any judge, receiver, or trustee having reasonable grounds for believing that any violation under chapter 9 of this title or other laws of the United States relating to insolvent debtors, receiverships or reorganization plans has been committed, or that an investigation should be had in connection therewith, shall report to the appropriate United ...

Continuing a recent legislative trend, Senate Bill 1001 expands existing prohibitions regarding unfair immigration-related practices.  Specifically, this bill amends the California Labor Code to provide a civil remedy for an applicant or employee against any unfair immigration-related practice as defined by Labor Code section 1019.  Such “unfair immigration-related practices” include an employer requesting more or different documents than required under federal law for verification purposes, using the federal E-Verify system to check the status of a person at a time ...

The Wage Equality Act of 2016 (Senate Bill 1063) expands California’s Equal Pay Act to target race and ethnicity-related wage differentials. This bill picks up where last year’s Equal Pay Act (which bolstered prohibitions on gender-based pay differentials) left off by adding a new Labor Code provision precluding wage differentials based on race or ethnicity.  Under the Wage Equality Act, employers will be required to demonstrate that a reasonably-applied factor accounts for any pay differential between employees of different races or ethnicities for doing substantially ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued its first enforcement guidance on employment-related retaliation in almost 20 years. The Final Guidance is in response to numerous court rulings on retaliation and the almost doubling of EEOC charges claiming retaliation, making retaliation the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination in the workplace.

The Final Guidance applies to retaliation under Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws including: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation  Act,  the Age Discrimination in ...

Consistent with a national trend, the Los Angeles City Council’s Economic Development Committee voted last week in favor of a new law prohibiting most employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s possible criminal history until an initial job offer is made and allowing applicants to appeal an adverse decision.  The proposed law, known as the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring (Ban the Box), will next be heard by the Entertainment and Facilities Committee and if approved, would then be considered by the full City Council.

Referred to as a “ban the box” law, the ...

On January 1, 2017, the City of San Francisco’s paid parental leave ordinance becomes effective for employers with 50 or more employees.  These employers will be required to pay the difference between a new parent’s weekly wage and benefits paid from California’s Paid Family Leave Program for 6 weeks, almost doubling the amount they were eligible to receive under the PFL program.  The law becomes effective for employers with 35 or more employees on July 1, 2017, and on January 1, 2018 for employers with 20 or more employees.  A cap is placed on the employer-paid benefit ...