California - Wage & Hour

All California employers should know by now that if they have a paid vacation policy, the vacation benefits constitute a form of “wages” under California law. (See Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 1094, 1103; Suastez v. Plastic Dress-Up Co. (1982) 31 Cal.3d 774, 784.) Calif

On September 30, 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law two bills designed to address ongoing concern of pay inequity. A.B. 1676 amends the California Fair Pay Act by prohibiting employers from relying on an employee’s prior salary to justify a disparity between the salaries of simila

As election day approaches, employers are reminded that California law requires them to post a notice 10 days before the election informing employees of their voting rights under state law. Specifically, employees must be informed that if they do not have sufficient time outside of working hours to

In this podcast, Littler Shareholder Bruce Sarchet provides historical insight into California’s Fair Pay Act and breaks down the recent major changes in the law. He discusses the impact of those changes on your workplace now, and what specific steps you can be taking to help limit liability in this

Beginning January 1, 2017, employers with 50 or more employees who have employees in San Francisco will need to begin providing payments to eligible employees who take time off to bond with a newborn child.

On September 14, 2016, San Francisco amended its Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (PPLO). The law will go into effect on January 1, 2017 for employers with 50 or more employees.1 The law requires private employers to provide supplemental compensation to employees who use California paid family leave (P

In this podcast, Littler Shareholder Bruce Sarchet unveils his personal “5-Step Self-Audit” process to help California employers and Human Resources departments avoid wage and hour class actions and related claims. Although Bruce’s process will not guarantee that your company won’t get sued, it will

Last week, the California Supreme Court agreed to review Troester v. Starbucks, a case involving the issue of whether de minimis work time must be compensated under California law. In Troester, the plaintiff was a former employee of Starbucks who sued the coffee giant because he was not paid for cer

California S.B. 1342 is a new law which allows cities and counties to work with the California Division of Labor Standards enforcement (“DLSE”) to enforce wage payment laws. The new measure was intended to give local enforcement programs the tools required to conduct wage claim investigations in ord

On July 22, 2016, the Governor approved California Assembly Bill 2535 (“AB 2535”), which relates to itemized wage statements (more commonly known as pay stubs). Specifically, AB 2535 revises California Labor Code Section 226. The prior version of Labor Code Section 226 required employers to include

On July 20, 2016, California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”) issued a press release stating DIR enforcement of a contractor and subcontractor’s requirement to submit certified payroll records(“CPRs”) using DIR’s online system will resume on August 1. DIR clarified that the requirement to

Nearly all California employment wage and hour class action lawsuits assert a cause of action under California Labor Code Section 226 as plaintiffs’ attorneys almost always automatically include such cause of action when there are other alleged underlying wage violations, i.e. failure to pay overtim

On July 11, 2016, the results of San Diego’s June election were certified, meaning that the minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinance that was approved by San Diego voters on the June ballot officially took effect on Monday. Our prior post on this new ordinance is here. If you are not already in co

Effective this Friday, July 1, 2016, employers with 26 of more employees, must pay employees who perform at least two hours of work within the geographic boundaries of the City of Los Angeles within a particular week at least $10.50 for each hour worked.

Employers in the City of San Diego will need to review their current paid sick leave and minimum wage policies to ensure they comply with a voter-approved ordinance extending paid sick leave and raising the minimum wage for workers in the City.

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Corbin v. Time Warner-Advance Newhouse, rejecting an employee’s claim that he was unlawfully denied compensation for hours worked due to his employer’s poilcy of rounding time entries to the nearest quarter hour. The Ninth Circuit further rejected

On April 21, 2016, Mayor Ed Lee signed an ordinance making San Francisco the first municipality to require private employers to compensate employees while on parental bonding leave. Under the law, when covered employees use California paid family leave (PFL) benefits for new child bonding – bonding

On April 5, 2016, San Francisco, California's Board of Supervisors approved a measure mandating that San Francisco employers provide six weeks of fully paid leave during a calendar year for new parents, including mothers, fathers, and same-sex couples, who either bear or adopt a child. It is another

Today, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance requiring employers to provide paid parental leave to employees. To be clear, the ordinance does not require employers to provide 100% of the employee’s pay, but rather requires employers to bridge the gap between the empl

When it wants to, the California Legislature can act with impressive speed. It did so last week on a minimum wage increase bill (SB 3)1 when, in less than 96 hours, it amended the legislation and sped it through two committee hearings and two final floor considerations. On Monday, April 4, 2016, Cal