SUTTON | HAGUE

On January 14, 2021, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion regarding whether its prior ruling adopting the “ABC Test” for determining independent contractor status applies retroactively. The Court answered in the affirmative, providing finality to a question that had been lingering for nearly three years. (Download a copy of the Supreme Court’s opinion here.) Relevant Background In April […]

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, California employers received guidance from a variety of State and federal agencies on the subject of whether, how and when employers can require employees to submit to viral testing for COVID-19. Adding an additional layer of complexity, on November 30, 2020, Cal/OSHA published emergency regulations that create a deluge of new obligations and […]

On September 17, 2020, California Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 1383, which amends and expands the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) to apply to small California businesses. Beginning January 1, 2021, all California businesses with five (5) or more employees must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave. As explained below, SB 1383 expands the CFRA beyond […]

On September 9, 2020, California AB 1867 became effective. The new law, codified as Labor Code sections 248 and 248.1 requires employers with 500 or more employees to provide supplemental paid sick leave for their California workers.  The new law also applies to employers of health care providers and first responders excluded by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act […]

Free Online Training to Prevent Sexual Harassment in the Workplace SB 1343 requires that all employers of 5 or more employees provide 1 hour of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to non-managerial employees and 2 hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to managerial employees once every two years. SB 1343 also requires the DFEH to […]

Many employers, especially in states neighboring California (like Nevada), have long dealt with the problem of whether California wage and hour law applies to work performed by their employees, when those employees perform work both inside and outside of California during a single pay period. Recently, the California Supreme Court issued two companion opinions that have helped to answer this […]

Earlier this year in April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made it clear that employers could lawfully test their employees for COVID-19 before entering the workplace to determine if they have COVID-19. Viral testing fit the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement that any mandatory medical tests of employees be “job related and consistent with business necessity.”What the EEOC […]

SHLC Attorney Brett Sutton was recently interviewed by the Daily Journal, California’s largest legal newspaper, regarding AB 2043, a bill to require agricultural employers to adopt Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 safety guidelines. SHLC represents agricultural employers across the state, including stone fruit and citrus growers as well as dairies. Read Sutton’s entire interview in the Daily Journal article below.

As business operations resume and employees return to work, employers are implementing measures to help curb the spread of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, including employee temperature screenings and other health checks. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has provided guidance permitting employers to measure employees’ body temperature to […]

On April 16, 2020, California Governor Newsome signed Executive Order N-51-20, which provides supplemental paid sick leave (“COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave”) for food sector workers who work for a hiring entity that has 500 or more employees nationwide for certain circumstances related to COVID-19. The type of food sector workers the Executive Order covers ranges from farmworkers to those […]