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

On October 15, 2017, California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 396 into law, requiring new training and posters for California employers.  Currently, California law requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of sexual harassment training to supervisors every two years.  This new bill requires those employers to also include training on harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.  Further, employers will be required to display a poster regarding transgender rights.  The poster can be obtained from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or by clicking here.   The bill is set to go into effect on January 1, 2018.  Our Labor and Employment attorneys are available to ensure that your training materials and posters comply with these new requirements.