Summary of Program

For decades the California Equal Pay Act has prohibited an employer from paying its employees less than employees of the opposite sex for equal work. On October 6, 2015, Governor Brown signed the California Fair Pay Act (SB 358), which strengthened the Equal Pay Act in a number of ways.  Then, on September 30, 2016, Governor Brown signed two other bills into law – SB 1063 which added race and ethnicity as protected categories under the Fair Pay Act, and AB 1676 – which prohibits employers from justifying a sex-, race-, or ethnicity-based pay differences solely on the grounds of prior salary.  California’s Fair Pay Act is now known as one of the strictest in the nation.Join Weintraub Tobin’s labor and employment attorneys as they discuss California’s Fair Pay Act and what this means for employers. Continue Reading You Aren’t In Kansas Anymore, Dorothy: A Common Sense Method of Complying with California’s New Fair Pay Act

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 with 26 or more employees and January 1, 2023 for employers with 25 or fewer employees.

In California, many cities and counties are increasing their minimum wages faster than the state. Click here for a chart of increases set to take place in 2018.

 

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”).

To read the full article, please click here.

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (“DLSE”) recently issued updated guidance regarding rest breaks that reverses its previous position, which permitted employers to require that employees stay on work premises during their rest periods. In this new guidance, the DLSE states that employers “cannot impose any restraints not inherent in the rest period requirement itself,” including forbidding employees to leave the premises. This guidance follows the California Supreme Court’s determination that rest breaks, like meal breaks, must be “duty free.” In Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc. (2016) 5 Cal.5th 257, the California Supreme Court determined that a company policy regarding security guards to keep their radios or pagers on during their rest breaks, and to respond if needed, violated the California Labor Code and Wage Orders. The DLSE has expanded this ruling to require that employers permit employees to leave the work premises during their rest break, while noting that “[a]s a practical matter … the employee can only travel five minutes from a work post before heading back to return in time.”

California employers should review their employment policies to ensure compliance with this updated guidance. Weintraub’s Labor & Employment attorneys have extensive experience counseling and auditing employee handbooks. Please contact any member of our team for assistance in updating your policies.

Weintraub Tobin’s 2018 Labor and Employment Seminar and Training schedule is now available.  Click here for a copy of the schedule.

If you have any questions on any of our seminars or would like to inquire on private, custom-tailored training, please contact:

Ramona Carrillo

(916) 558-6046

rcarrillo@weintraub.com