What’s New in Employment Law?

Labor Day Is About People We spend a lot of time talking about work as though it is separate from the rest of life. It isn’t. People come to work carrying everything with them: grief, fear, divorce, sick parents, sick children, financial stress, new babies, bad news,...

Last week, my daughter lost her horse, Weston, without any notice. I have rewritten that sentence about 10 times because there really isn’t a way to capture what happened. Weston wasn’t just a horse E. rode. He was her partner. They had been together for six years....

It happens all the time. An employee calls out for several days and returns with a doctor’s note. Or HR gets an email saying the employee needs to work from home, avoid lifting, change their schedule, or remain off work for another month. At that point, the employer...

If you work for a larger employer that has spent years preparing the annual EEO-1 Report, the latest development out of Washington may sound like welcome news. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has proposed rescinding the EEO-1 and related reporting...

Flexible work arrangements are here to stay, and many California employers are looking for ways to give employees more control over their schedules. One common request? “Can I work from home for part of the day so I can avoid rush-hour traffic?” Seems simple enough....

The U.S. Department of Labor has released an updated "Your Rights Under USERRA" poster. If your business displays employment law posters, now is a good time to make sure your USERRA notice is up to date. USERRA (the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment...

A new labor relations director gets a Friday afternoon call. An employee has just walked out after an argument with her supervisor. Three coworkers left with her. A veteran labor relations director gets the same call. The newcomer is wondering what to do next. The...

If your organization uses employment arbitration agreements, here’s one more reason to dust them off. Governor Newsom recently signed AB 2155, which takes effect on January 1, 2027. The new law doesn’t ban arbitration or make arbitration agreements obsolete. Instead,...

One of the most difficult questions California employers face is whether an employee’s troubling behavior should be treated as misconduct or as a possible sign of a disability. Respond too quickly with discipline, and an employer may overlook its obligations under the...

Many California employers devoted significant time and resources to complying with California’s workplace violence prevention law before it took effect on July 1, 2024, through SB 553. They drafted Workplace Violence Prevention Plans, trained employees, implemented...