Increasing numbers of employers are bringing people back to work in some measure, but the office view — from masks to mandates — looks far from normal.  The return of “non-essential” employees, many of whom have been working from home, has varied widely across the country, with some bosses even prohibiting masks at work. In California, the government is attempting to guide a safe return, offering a COVID-19 Employer Playbook and legislative efforts to revamp employment laws to protect workers … [Read more...]

A law firm administrative manager got fed up this summer with requests to wear masks, even though he said he had tested negative for COVID-19. In a rant on his personal Facebook page, the Texas man vented his frustration in a big way, circling around to mentions of a handgun and hollow-point bullets. The threatening post promptly resulted in a pink slip for the man, whose longtime employer publicly apologized for the incident, saying it violated the firm’s values and merited a notification of … [Read more...]

In a landmark decision this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a 1964 civil rights law clearly protects gay and transgender workers. The ruling makes it illegal for employers nationwide to fire workers for being gay, bisexual or transgender. Significantly, though such discrimination already was illegal in California (as well as in 21 other states), victims now can bring lawsuits in both state and federal court.  “Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for … [Read more...]

California’s new gig worker law tried to help people — particularly Uber and Lyft drivers — who received few protections and no benefits because they were classified as independent contractors instead of employees. Now, state legislators are trying to improve A.B. 5 — which took effect Jan. 1 — to make allowances for other types of workers who rely on their independent status to make a living.  In June, the Assembly voted unanimously to advance bills that would exempt from A.B. 5 creative … [Read more...]

We’ve written a fair bit here about your privacy protections in California; a new item intended for the November ballot could advance those cutting-edge protections even further. Californians for Consumer Privacy — the same group that backed the 2018 privacy legislation — has submitted more than 900,000 signatures to support putting the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) in front of voters. While an official announcement has yet to come out of the California Secretary of State’s office, … [Read more...]