Los Angeles county is trying something new to enable cooks and bakers to operate their own little restaurant by allowing them to prepare food in their own home. Starting on November 1, 2024, Los Angeles will begin a new program called the Micro-enterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO). This program will be available in all of Los Angeles County except for Pasadena, Long Beach, and Vernon because these cities have their own health departments.

The new California law, which was recently signed by Governor Newsom on September 22, 2024, explicitly states that the California Small Business Procurement and Contract Act is a state law that provides assistance and services for all persons regardless of their immigration status. California has now affirmatively provided eligibility to aliens. Yes, now even small businesses and micro businesses owned by illegal aliens can receive these benefits.

A new law took effect earlier this year which aims to make no fault evictions more difficult on landlords. Many California landlords are still reeling from the pandemic-era restrictions on evictions and rent moratoriums. Well, California’s legislature has placed further restrictions on landlords. California landlords need to be aware of the new no fault eviction notice rules and the requirement for relocation assistance.

Back in April of 2024, the Federal Trade Commission voted to adopt a ban on noncompete agreements, stating that such a ban was justified because noncompete agreements are an “unfair method of competition.” Texas filed suit in federal court challenging the ban, arguing that the FTC lacks authority to issue such a ban. The court agreed and in August of 2024 blocked enforcement of the ban nationwide. Since that time, on October of 2024, the FTC filed an appeal. Although an appeal is pending, employers can technically continue to enforce existing noncompete agreements against workers.

California's new law, which takes effect in 2025, requires landlords to pay to change the lock on all exterior doors (or reimburse the tenant who paid to change the lock out of his or her own pocket), which can (in some cases) cost hundreds of dollars. In addition, landlords must change the locks even in cases where the tenant does not provide a police report or court order. This is because the list of acceptable proof has expanded to even include mere “statements” from a “qualified” third party such as domestic violence counselors, human trafficking caseworkers, sexual assault counselors, and health practitioners (social workers, surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists). A police report is not required, nor is a court order required.

The new rule, which took effect on July 1, 2024, requires that any salaried workers who earn less than $43,888 (or $844 per week) are entitled to overtime pay for any hours worked beyond 40 hours per week. Under the new rule, the threshold will increase for the first time on January 1, 2025 and will be scheduled to increase every three years thereafter. On January 1, 2025, any salaried employers who earn less than $58,656 a year (or $1,128 per week) will be entitled to overtime pay. In creating a higher threshold, the Department of Labor estimates that approximately $4 Million previously exempt workers will be eligible for overtime pay.

If you think California has been making it harder and harder for employers to operate in the state, you may have one more draconian law to deal with soon. California is proposing a new law which gives employees the right to disconnect from all communications from their employer during their non-working hours. The only exception where an employer can contact employees during their non-working hours is during an emergency or an immediate scheduling issue. If you run a business, you know that many unforeseen events and many questions arise during the course of a business day - some of which can be solved with one simple phone call or text. This potential new law does not create clear boundaries. Instead, it creates many more questions that have been left unanswered. It also fails to take into account the practical way in which businesses are run, how issues are resolved, and the situations in which employees have a chance to even work overtime hours.

California’s mandatory $20 minimum wage for fast food workers is already changing the way fast food chains operate. Business owners could have predicted the immediate outcome of California’s infamous $20 fast food minimum wage: rapidly rising prices of fast food and the mass layoff of fast food workers was no surprise. The fallout in the California fast food industry has begun and we are only seeing inklings of the fast food industry’s future. For fast food restaurants and their owners, the simultaneous increase in the 1) worker’s hourly rate, 2) manager’s salary, 3) price of menu items, and 4) price in groceries can be a difficult (if not fatal) balancing act.

After some confusion regarding the new $20 fast food minimum wage law, California created some last minute exemptions to help clarify which restaurants are required to pay the new minimum wage. However, the last minute exemptions are narrowly tailored, and the new minimum wage likely applies to most fast food restaurants in California. On a practical level, these narrow exemptions will likely have little impact on the cost of labor for employers. For example, if workers are doing the same jobs at both an airport McDonald’s and a stand-alone McDonald’s, there is little incentive for the workers to continue to work at the airport for less pay. Clearly, a pay increase will likely occur across all facets of the fast food industry.