The New Year brings a number of new, significant employment laws for California businesses. These rules range in topic from worker classification to privacy. Employers need to consider these developments, understand how the laws affect operations, and adjust their policies and practices to ensure compliance. Worker Classification One of the biggest, most attention-grabbing changes coming to the workplace in 2020 is AB 5, the new law that clarifies the test used to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or a normal W2 employee. AB 5 incorporates the “Dynamex ABC Test” into various parts of California’s labor statutes. From... READ MORE

Under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, employees in California who work for an employer for at least 30 days within a year (tracked from the beginning of their employment, rather than by calendar year) must be provided paid sick leave. This includes full-time, part-time, and temporary employees. Regulations like this can be confusing. Though the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act sets out specific paid sick leave requirements, the exact amount that you as an employer may owe to any individual employee can depend on a number of factors. One of these factors is which way you decide to calculate... READ MORE

In response to outcry from the business community, Governor Newsom signed into effect a law extending the deadline for employers to provide the newly required sexual harassment prevention training to January 1, 2021. At the prompting of the business community, the state legislature introduced and passed SB 778 to make some needed clarifications to the new sexual harassment prevention training law. Primarily, SB 778 would delay the changes made by SB 1343 – one of the many #MeToo laws passed in the 2018 legislative session – so employers would have an additional year to get up to speed with and... READ MORE

As a business owner, there are many steps you will need to take when hiring employees including finding a payroll system that works for your business, drafting an employee handbook outlining your business’ policies and procedures, and purchasing workers compensation insurance. Some of these steps, like purchasing workers compensation insurance, may seem insignificant or something that can be put off but they are critical to avoiding government fines, costly audits, and being left with a financial burden if an employee is injured on the job. To help you better understand what your workers compensation policy means for your business, we’ve... READ MORE

In California, employees are regularly hired “at-will,” meaning that companies can, and do, let them go at any time and for (just about) any reason. However, there is more to letting someone go than just saying “you’re fired” and escorting them from the building. Because of the likelihood of an employee-employer relationship turning sour upon termination, it’s a particularly good idea for a company to have a formal, objective termination policy in place. A termination policy can also help to protect your business in instances of accusations that an employee was let go for a reason that is not legally... READ MORE

As your business grows and you employ a number of people in different positions, you’ll want to consider putting together (and then periodically updating) an employee handbook. This document should be clear, well written, easy to search, and cover a number of different aspects about how your company’s policies will be applied. A handbook not only helps employees understand what is expected of them, but it also protects you in any potential future disagreement with your employees. Having clearly-written policies, which are then properly enforced, can be an integral defense in a labor dispute, and can even help prevent such... READ MORE

2018 has been an incredibly eventful year! This year, there were a number of developments in a number of sectors, including important changes in employment law, data security and privacy regulations, and tax rules and regulation. In this newsletter, we’ll “look back” on these developments and highlight for you some of the key changes from 2018 that may affect your business. Employment Independent contractors: California presumes that all workers are employees unless a business is able to demonstrate that they meet every element of the ABC Test: The worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in... READ MORE

As your business grows, you’ll bring in team members to help you manage everything from driving sales to keeping the books straight. Eventually, you’ll hire a human resources expert to help you manage your employees, but even before you grow to that point, you can still take steps to avoid stumbling into any common legal pitfalls in the hiring process. Application When searching for a new team member, you should start by creating a job description that makes it clear what you’re looking for and what it will take to be successful in the role. This is the time to... READ MORE

If you’re growing a successful business, you’ve probably learned along the way that you can’t do everything. To help you grow your business, you may decide to bring in a consultant to help you tackle a certain challenge or to help you set up a new aspect of your business. Consultants are a great resource for any business, whether you’re looking for management advice or marketing assistance. They’re great at providing highly skilled help, but they are also a source of liability, and there’s a few things you will want to keep in mind before you retain a consultant for... READ MORE

In an at-will employment state like California, you can, in theory, fire anyone at any time. However, state and federal legislation have particular exceptions to prohibit employers from firing someone for any reason. For instance, you cannot fire someone for refusing to do something illegal, or for a discriminatory reason (race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and more). If you fire someone for the wrong reason, you can face a wrongful termination lawsuit. Setting Clear Policies on Termination  Your employee handbook is a great place to identify your company policies on discipline and termination. Outline these policies in your handbook,... READ MORE