Executive Summary: The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy/Henderson v. JPMorgan Chase has clarified the state’s standards concerning when employers must provide suitable seating to their employees. While the holding will permit employees to sit on the job under certain circumstances based on the nature of work actually performed (rather than an abstract, such as a job description), the state high court validated a reasonable interpretation of the requirement that permits employers to use their business judgment (including customer service considerations) and the physical layout of workspaces when determining whether seating is required.
Articles Discussing Labor And Employment Law In All Fifty Us States And Puerto Rico.
San Francisco Becomes First U.S. City to Approve Fully Paid Leave for New Parents
On April 5, 2016, San Francisco, California’s Board of Supervisors approved a measure mandating that San Francisco employers provide six weeks of fully paid leave during a calendar year for new parents, including mothers, fathers, and same-sex couples, who either bear or adopt a child. It is another in a long line of employee-friendly laws recently passed both in California and around the country.
Companies in Florida Face Difficult Road in Recovering Restitution from Criminal Employees
A company whose employee embezzles money has limited options for recovering its losses. Often, a company must rely on law enforcement to seize the employee’s assets before the employee can dissipate all available funds. A new law in Florida, however, will make law enforcement’s seizure of assets much more difficult and will likely result in a decrease of available resources for recovery.
New York State Introduces Paid Family Leave
By 2018, employers in New York will be required to provide their employees with paid family leave. The federal Family Medical Leave Act requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain qualifying conditions such as the birth or adoption of a child or for the treatment of a serious health condition. Many states, such as Connecticut, have passed their own medical leave statutes which provide additional leave, on top of the 12 weeks guaranteed by federal law. In addition, those state statutes typically require fewer than than 50 employees for an employer to be covered under the act. Prior to this week, New York did not have its own medical leave statute supplementing the federal FMLA, but on April 4, it joined California, New Jersey and Rhode Island as the only states to offer their employees paid family leave. As part of the state’s 2016-2017 budget, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation which enacts a statewide $15 minimum wage plan and a 12-week paid family leave policy.
San Francisco Passes Fully Paid Parental Leave Ordinance
Today, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance requiring employers to provide paid parental leave to employees. To be clear, the ordinance does not require employers to provide 100% of the employee’s pay, but rather requires employers to bridge the gap between the employee’s regular compensation and the wage replacement benefit the employee receives from the State EDD under the state’s paid family leave program. Under that program, employees generally receive 55% of their wages for up to six weeks when they take leave to bond with a new child (and/or for other covered reasons).
Paid Family Leave Becomes Law in New York Through an Insurance-Style Scheme. Will Other States Follow?
Could this be a game-changer when it comes to paid family and sick leave?
California Supreme Court Interprets Suitable Seating Requirements
Today, the California Supreme Court provided guidance that had been requested by the Ninth Circuit regarding California’s suitable seating requirements in two different cases — Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy and Henderson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank (both pending before the Ninth Circuit). The Ninth Circuit certified the following questions to the California Supreme Court relating to the California Wage Order provision (Section 14(A) of various Wage Orders) stating that “all working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats:"
California Raises its Minimum Wage and Expands Paid Sick Leave
When it wants to, the California Legislature can act with impressive speed. It did so last week on a minimum wage increase bill (SB 3)1 when, in less than 96 hours, it amended the legislation and sped it through two committee hearings and two final floor considerations. On Monday, April 4, 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill, which will eventually raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour, into law. The bill’s proponents said that under this measure, nearly six million California workers—more than one-third of the Golden State’s workforce—will receive a raise.2
Florida Federal Court Raises the Bar on Irreparable Injury
Businesses seeking injunctive relief to enforce non-competition agreements in Florida might be required to show the confidential information they seek to protect is neither unnecessary nor outdated, according to a recent ruling in Transunion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions, Inc. v. Challa, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166346, Case No. 9:15-cv-91049 (S.D. Fla. March 23, 2016).
Minnesota Drug Testing Law Applies Where Minnesota Resident Was Hired to Work in Another State
A federal appeals court in Minnesota has held that the Minnesota drug testing statute applies to an applicant tested in Minnesota, even though the applicant was being hired for a job in another state. Olson v. Push, Inc., No. 14-3160 (8th Cir. Feb. 22, 2016).
Utah Enacts Post-Employment Restrictions Act
A growing number of states are tightening conditions on restrictive covenants. The start of 2016 saw Oregon and Alabama enact higher barriers to the enforcement of non-compete agreements in those states.1 As of March 22, 2016, Utah has now joined their ranks with its “Post-Employment Restrictions Act,” HB 251.
California Lawmakers Approve $15 Minimum Wage
Early this week we reported on a "deal" reached between labor unions, certain democratic lawmakers, and the California Governor to increase California’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. Yesterday, California’s Assembly and Senate both voted to approve the bill, largely along partisan lines. All but two democrats (Assembly members Tom Daly and Adam Gray) voted in favor of the bill. No Republicans in either house voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed by a vote of 48-26 in the Assembly and by a vote of 26-12 in the Senate. The bill is now on Governor Brown’s desk for consideration. Governor Brown has already announced that he will sign the bill into law on Monday. [Unfortunately, this is not an April Fools joke.]
Amendments to New York City’s Human Rights Law Strengthen Protections in Employment, Public Accommodations
Consistent with recent pro-employee and tenant legislation and the stated broad remedial purpose of the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”), Mayor Bill de Blasio has signed into law five amendments to the New York City Administrative Code to strengthen civil rights protections; remove language regarding sexual orientation; give the New York City Human Rights Commission the authority to award attorney’s fees; add franchiser, franchisee, and lessor to the list of those who cannot discriminate by refusing someone public accommodations on the basis of gender, race, disability, or any other protected class; and make it unlawful to deny someone housing because he or she is a victim of domestic violence.
Carolina Employer Workplace News – Spring 2016
The North Carolina “Single-Sex Multiple Occupancy” Act (also known as “HB-2”) prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. It is attracting nationwide attention due to its adverse treatment of transgender persons in public accommodations, and it is being challenged in a lawsuit filed on March 28. The Act also amended the North Carolina Equal Employment Practices Act (NCEEPA), calling into question the viability of wrongful discharge in violation of public policy claims premised upon NCEEPA. Finally, the Act amended North Carolina’s wage and hour act. Read more…
California Supreme Court Upholds Arbitration Agreement Provision Allowing Parties to Seek Provisional Relief in Court
Today, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Baltazar v. Forever 21, Inc., rejecting an employee’s argument that her arbitration agreement with her employer was unconscionable and unenforceable simply because it permitted the parties to seek a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction in court pending completion of an arbitration. The plaintiff argued that this provision unfairly favored the employer because employers are more likely to benefit from such a provision than an employee (because employers more commonly seek restraining orders and/or injunctive relief relating to claims against an employee for misappropriation of trade secrets and similar wrongful business practices).