The Labor and Employment Law Blog : Labor & Employment Lawyer & Attorney : Weintraub Genshlea Chediak Law Firm : Sacramento California : Labor & Employment Law Blog

by Lizbeth V. West

On January 19, 2010, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued model notices to help plan administrators and employers comply with COBRA notice requirements as dictated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“ARRA”), as amended by the Department of Defense Appropriation Act, 2010 (“2010 DOD Act”).

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by Lizbeth V. West

President Obama signed the “Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Appropriations Act” (“DAA”) on December 21, 2009. The DAA provides two important changes to the COBRA subsidy that was established under the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” (“ARRA”) earlier this year. 

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by Lizbeth V. West

The sixty-five percent (65%) COBRA premium subsidy provided for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will come to an end on November 30, 2009 for some qualified beneficiaries. 

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by Lizbeth V. West

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) takes effect November 21, 2009. Among other things, GINA requires that employers post a notice informing employees that the employer does not discriminate on the basis of genetic information.

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by Lizbeth V. West

The FTC issued a news release on October 30, 2009 advising that at the request of Members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission is delaying enforcement of the “Red Flags” Rule until June 1, 2010, for financial institutions and creditors subject to enforcement by the FTC.

The Rule was promulgated under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, in which Congress directed the Commission and other agencies to develop regulations requiring “creditors” and “financial institutions” to address the risk of identity theft. The resulting Red Flags Rule requires all such entities that have “covered accounts” to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs to help identify, detect, and respond to patterns, practices, or specific activities – known as “red flags” – that could indicate identity theft.

A copy of the news release is available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/redflags.shtm

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by Lizbeth V. West

On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2647). The new law is expansive with over 500 pages of text. Section 565 of the Act makes significant changes to the military leave entitlements under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which went into effect earlier this year. Below is a summary of some of the changes made:

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by Lizbeth V. West

In LVRC Holdings, LLC v. Brekka, et. al. (9/15/09), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s summary judgment for defendants finding that defendant, Brekka, was “authorized” to use LVRC’s computers while he was employed, and that he did not access the computers “without authorization” under the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) when he emailed documents to himself and his wife prior to leaving LVRC.

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On August 19, 2009, in response to the current economic downturn, the California Labor Commissioner published an Opinion Letter which provides employers with an option to laying off their exempt employees; furloughs.

Under the Labor Commissioner’s Opinion Letter, it is now lawful for California employers to reduce the work hours of their exempt staff, with a commensurate reduction in salary. California law now permits employers to temporarily reduce an exempt employee's salary, with a commensurate reduction in hours, without jeopardizing the employee's overtime exempt status, so long as employee still meets the minimum requirements for exempt status, such as wage ($2,773.33 per month) and duty requirements.

Previously, a 2002 Opinion Letter provided that a reduction of an exempt employee's salary pursuant to a corresponding reduction in hours was a violation of California law. The August 19, 2009 Opinion Letter reverses this interpretation of California law. It is now permissible for employers to temporarily reduce exempt employees’ salaries when their hours are reduced without affecting the employees’ exemption status.
 

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by Dale Campbell and Emily Hirsekorn

State rules concerning electronic discovery just got clearer. On June 29, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger signed the Electronic Discovery Act (the “Act”), which became effective immediately. Just last year, the Governor vetoed an almost identical version of the Act in order to focus more attention on the budget crisis. Of course, we see how well that plan worked. The Act is modeled after the 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The new rules govern the discovery procedure for electronically stored information (“ESI”) in California civil actions.

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