Articles Discussing California Wage & Hour Laws.

In May 2022, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Systems, which considered the issue of whether failing to pay premium wages for meal and rest period violations gave rise to claims for waiting time penalties or violations of wage statement requirements.

The underlying action

This is the second post of a new monthly series of CDF’s Labor & Employment Law Blog providing California employers with wage and hour compliance tips and best practices.

On the heels of the Ninth Circuit’s decision blocking California’s bar to mandatory arbitration agreements, as reported earlier this month in the CDF blog and the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, effectively permitting arbitration of individual Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims, many California employers previously reluctant to roll-out mandatory arbitration agreements given uncertainties in developing case law are now re-considering this decision. California employers with existing arbitration agreements are, or at least should be, reviewing and likely revising existing agreements to comport with recent case law to ensure continued enforcement.

In wage and hour litigation, one of the primary benefits of having an arbitration agreement is the ability to include a class and representative action waiver, thereby requiring an employee to arbitrate his or her individual wage and hour claims, in addition to other purported employment-related disputes (except sexual harassment/assault), in arbitration rather than facing defense of alleged class action or representative/PAGA claims in court. The enforceability of such waivers is an incredibly important and valuable weapon/shield for California employers who are faced with class and PAGA claims filed in court.

It is well-known that California law is often more strict than federal law. Just as California handles overtime differently than the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), California law also treats aspects of overtime exemptions differently than the FLSA. One such difference is the Outside Salesperson exemption.

Under the FLSA,

Starting in November of 2023, businesses in Berkeley, California with at least 10 employees within the City of Berkeley will need to comply with a new Fair Work Week Ordinance. This ordinance will require covered employers to provide a written, good-faith estimate of employees’ work schedules before hiring

In September of 2022, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 1162 into law. That law creates and expands upon a number of obligations for California employers, including:

1. Requiring all California employers with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale for all advertised positions in all job postings
2. Requiring all California employers to provide current employees with the pay scale for their position, if requested
3. Requiring all California employers to maintain certain additional wage records for the duration of employment, plus three years after employment terminates
4. Requiring California employers with 100 or more employees to submit certain employee pay data, broken down by location and analyzed based on race/ethnicity and gender, to the California Civil Rights Division
5. Requiring California employers with 100 or more employees to provide the California Civil Rights Division with the ownership names of all labor contractors used to supply workers

Last month, the California Department of Industrial Relations published some FAQs to help guide compliance.

In this thirty-minute webinar, attorneys Mark S. Spring and Wanja Guy will review the statutory obligations and FAQs, help clarify these new obligations in practical terms, and provide their insights on what California employers should think about to put themselves in the best position to be in compliance with all the new Pay Transparency and Equal Pay obligations that are now in effect. Spring and Guy will also discuss the new penalties that the state can levy on California employers who are not in compliance with the obligations.

Come join us later this month for this important thirty-minute program.

CA MCLE, HRCI and SHRM credit pending.

This is the first post of a new monthly series of CDF’s Labor & Employment Law Blog providing California employers with wage and hour compliance tips and best practices.

California’s reputation as a breeding ground for wage and hour litigation – the state is responsible for a disproportionally large share of such lawsuits nationwide – seems set to continue. With that, as the first month of 2023 comes to a close, California employers should ensure that they have complied with new minimum wage requirements to avoid potential costly litigation.

The California Civil Rights Division (CRD) recently released updated guidance in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for the 2022 California pay data reports, which covered employers must submit via the CRD’s pay data portal by May 10, 2023.

When Senate Bill (SB) 1162 was signed in 2022, much of the focus was on the new pay transparency requirements. However, the bill also amended pay data reporting requirements in California. Under the amendments covered employers would need to submit separate pay data reports for employees hired through labor contractors.

By: Appellate Court Holds That Percentage Bonuses Can Be Calculated Using FLSA Method 

By: Appellate Court Holds That Percentage Bonuses Can Be Calculated Using FLSA Method 

In a pro-employer decision addressing the overlap of federal and California wage and hour law, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District upheld

Just prior to the New Year, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office released updated Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”), which clarified the California Equal Pay Act’s pay scale disclosure requirements that were effective January 1, 2023. While the Equal Pay Act has been amended almost annually since its most significant revisions in 2016, these particular FAQs supplied further information on Senate Bill No. 1162 (“SB 1162”). SB 1162 requires certain California employers to disclose pay scale information and provide more robust pay data reporting.