Total Articles: 9
Amended California Pregnancy Disability Leave Mandates Employer Healthcare
California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave law has been amended by SB 299. The amended law mandates that employers provide paid healthcare for up to four months of leave. The amended law has its biggest impact on small businesses not already covered by the FMLA.
The Stork Has Landed: California Employers (and Insurers) Now Must Provide Pregnancy Benefits
California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed sweeping legislation aimed at affording pregnant women certain employment and insurance protections. Two sets of companion legislation, SB 299 and AB 592, along with SB 222 and AB 210, attempt to ensure that all pregnant women maintain their insurance benefits while on pregnancy-related leaves.
WHEN MOTHERS RETURN TO WORK.
Employees returning to work after pregnancy or adopting a child face complex challenges. The elusive “work-life balance” is difficult to achieve, and circumstances can create the need for additional time off and other issues. We discussed workplace laws protecting pregnant employees in a previous article. Here, we focus on employers’ post-pregnancy obligations.
Pregnancy At Work: A Review Of California Employer Obligations.
Although most companies protect against pregnancy discrimination, the EEOC has recorded an increase in claims between 2001, when 4,287 charges were made, and 2009, when 6,196 charges were made. The chart below illustrates the trend.
PREGNANT PAUSE.
Employees disabled by pregnancy are entitled to certain protections and benefits. The law in this area is not a model of clarity. To celebrate my law partner Jennifer Shaw's new baby, let us review California employment laws regarding pregnancy disability leave. (True, as a partner rather than an employee, Jennifer is entitled to virtually none of those rights. But as a fantastic rainmaker, lawyer, and person, she will probably be ok.)
Sea Captain Unlawfully Terminates Pregnant Shipmate.
Zibute Scherl loved boating, and she had made a career of it. She was a licensed Merchant Marine Officer who had worked on a variety of vessels, including a 60 foot fishing yacht as a second captain.
Same-Sex Couples Retain Employment Law Rights Despite Supreme Court Ruling.
The California Supreme Court issued a ruling in late May upholding Proposition 8. Does this ruling affect employee rights in the workplace?
How Does California’s Same-Sex Marriage Decision Impact Employers?
As most affected employers are aware, California recently became the second state (after Massachusetts) to recognize same-sex marriages. In In re Marriage Cases, the California Supreme Court held that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates the California Constitution’s equal protection clause and is a form of unconstitutional discrimination based on sexual orientation. The law also invalidated California’s Proposition 22, which provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in California.
Calculation of Retirement Benefits Affected by Discriminatory Policy Which Pre-Dated Pregnancy Discrimination Act Held Unlawful (scroll down).
In Huelteen v. AT&T, a Ninth Circuit en banc panel held that calculation of retirement benefits violated the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act where the calculation was based on a seniority-accrual system in place in the late 1960s and 1970s which discriminated against employees on pregnancy leave, even though application of the discriminatory policy pre-dated the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The 11-4 decision essentially reaffirmed an identical ruling against AT&T’s predecessor, Pacific Bell, in 1992, and overturned a three-judge panel’s decision to overrule the earlier case on the grounds that it was an improper retroactive application of the PDA.
