California employers, beware! On October 4, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 616 into law which requires employers to increase the number of mandatory paid sick days from 3 to 5 days. This new law will go into effect on January 1, 2024.
Read MoreCalifornia’s legislature hopes to expand unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants who are unemployed. If Senate Bill 227 passes, employers may be forced to pay higher taxes to cover the increase in unemployment benefits being paid out. The new bill increases the pool of “unemployment benefits” applicants, allows undocumented employees meet a lower threshold for obtaining “unemployment benefits, and actively ignores the propensity for fraud in these instances.
Read MoreCalifornia employers may be forced to pay unemployment benefits to employees who are still employed but refuse to work because they are on strike. The California legislature is considering Senate Bill 799, which can have negative repercussions for various industries. First, it will give organized labor, an already powerful force in politics today, even more leverage and power. Second, it may cause more jobs to be left unfilled as many employees will be incentivized to strike. After all, they get paid during a strike, and they will (presumably) get paid MORE after a strike. Worst of all, the employers and employees who are not participating in the strikes are ultimately being forced to participate by paying increased taxes or receiving less in benefits.
Read MoreIf Senate Bill 553 passes, employers may be required to create new policies, maintain more meticulous records, and be ready to conduct investigations in all incidents of workplace violence by July 1, 2024- in less than a year! In addition, failure to comply with these requirements means that the employer may be hit with expensive citations and civil penalties. The irony for California employers is obvious: the California Legislature is now asking employers to do what the California legislature and the governor could not do: prevent violence in places of business.
Read MoreEmployers are no longer at the mercy of striking unionized employees. A union’s actions during a strike are not absolutely protected under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), and it is not an absolute right. Rather, Unions will be held liable to employers for damages if they intentionally caused employers to suffer damages during a strike.
Read MoreTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employees to reasonably accommodate employees’ religious beliefs but only only if doing so would not impose “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.” The old rule has been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court and employers must now do more to accommodate employees’ religious beliefs. Employers should take all requests for reasonable accommodation more seriously and err on the side of caution.
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