Employment News

A new California law meant to help employees avoid mandatory arbitration in employment contracts got a partial boost from a California court, but nothing is final yet. The law, signed late in 2019, seeks to protect workers who don’t want to sign employment agreements that force arbitration — as opposed to suing in court — if they end up at odds with their employers. Consumer advocates and others have said mandatory arbitration agreements often yield one-sided solutions, keeping secret … [Read more...]

As efforts to increase the number of Americans who are vaccinated against COVID-19 ramp up, employees can expect to see more workplace vaccine mandates.  Over the summer, the California Department of Public Health issued orders requiring certain covered health care facilities and school districts to verify their employees’ vaccination status and implement mandatory regular testing of unvaccinated workers.  On Sept. 9, as part of his comprehensive strategy to combat the spread of the … [Read more...]

Hourly workers in California who are not fully compensated for meal and rest breaks now have grounds to recover that shortfall in California meal premium pay following a recent state Supreme Court ruling.  On July 15, the California high court unanimously ruled in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC that workers who are not given meal or rest breaks during their shifts are entitled to premium payments that factor in all non-discretionary payments they receive, not just their hourly … [Read more...]

Office costs, not surprisingly, took a dive during the pandemic-driven work-from-home era. Looking ahead, if U.S. employers embraced remote work just half the time for workers who are both able and willing to work from home, they could collectively save more than $500 billion a year, according to an estimate from Global Workplace Analytics. The firm predicts at least a quarter of the workforce will work from home for multiple days a week post-pandemic. That means workers should be informed … [Read more...]

A new California law changes how to report discrimination at work, taking a giant step toward helping employees who have faced workplace discrimination. In a state that has more than 12.1 million workers — with 5.54 million of them women and 7.67 million non-white, just to name a couple of categories — the issue has broad implications. Discrimination is pervasive but often underreported. During the past year, many companies have been grappling with varying concerns related to that very issue, … [Read more...]