Weintraub Tobin Shareholder, Beth West, shared her expertise and testified before the California Legislature’s Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response on February 15, 2018. The hearing focused on the legal issues surrounding sexual harassment and Ms. West’s testimony identified challenges employers face in having effective anti-harassment programs in place, as well as some legal challenges employers face when complaints are filed.
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California Labor Commissioner and Attorney General Jointly Answer “Frequently Asked Questions” on Immigration Sweeps
In case you haven’t noticed, immigration has been a hot topic of discussion in the news lately. While debates over Dreamers and the wall have dominated those discussions, the workplace has been swept into it all as well. On the one hand, the federal government’s efforts to curb illegal immigration have reached the workplace via frequent raids of businesses suspected of employing undocumented workers. On the other hand, California has deemed itself a “sanctuary state” and pushed back on these immigration sweeps via laws that punish employers who cooperate with federal authorities carrying out the raids. The collateral damage in that fight may just be the employers who are stuck in the middle. Employers who allow ICE agents into their business risk violating California law, but employers who turn the same agents away could find themselves in hot water with federal authorities. What to do? Fortunately, the state Labor Commissioner and Attorney General have jointly issued some guidance to aid employers in navigating these treacherous waters.
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Protected Leave For New Parents Now Applies to Mid-Size Employers in California
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) have long required large employers with 50 or more employees to provide unpaid job-protected parental leave for employees to bond with a new child. Effective January 1, 2018, the New Parent Leave Act (NPLA) extends similar parental leave requirements to California employers with 20 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.
The NPLA adds section 12945.6 to the Government Code, requiring these mid-size employers to provide up to 12 workweeks of unpaid job-protected leave for employees to bond with a new child within one year of the child’s birth, adoption, or foster care placement. As with the FMLA and CFRA, employees must have worked for the company at least 12 months, and at least 1,250 hours during the preceding 12 months, to qualify for NPLA leave.
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New Year, New Minimum Wage
Effective January 1, 2018, California’s minimum wage rate increased to $11.00 per hour (from $10.50) for employers with 26 or more employees and $10.50 per hour (from $10.00) for employers 
with 25 or fewer employees. The minimum wage will continue to increase yearly until it reaches $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2022 for employers
The NLRB Reverses Itself – Good News for Employers and Their Employment Policies
In its December 14, 2017 decision entitled Boeing Company and Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, IFPTE Local 2001 (“Boeing”), the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) reversed itself and adopted a new and much more realistic standard for evaluating whether employment policies and rules violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).
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