Employment News

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...]

Increasing numbers of employers are bringing people back to work in some measure, but the office view, shaped by COVID workplace safety requirements 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 … [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 from LGBT workplace discrimination. 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 … [Read more...]

The California AB5 law, the state’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 … [Read more...]