Pascal Benyamini, Author at Laborsphere

California Employers: New Poster to be Posted April 1, 2016

Did you recently update your workplace posters? Time to do it again.

In California, all employers have obligations to satisfy workplace posting, such as posting information related to wages, hours and working conditions. The workplace posters must be placed in an area frequented by employees where these posters may be easily read during the workday.

As a result of new amended regulations pertaining to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) going into effect on April 1, 2016, certain covered employers must post a new poster on April 1, 2016. Employers with 5 or more employees (full-time or part-time) are covered by the FEHA and must post a specific notice, which replaces Pregnancy Disability Leave (“PDL”) Notice A. This new poster, titled “Your Rights and Obligations as a Pregnant Employee,” provides clarifications of the PDL, including, but not limited to, the following:

Eligible employees are entitled up to four months of leave per pregnancy, and not per year;
The four months means the working days the employee would normally work in one-third of a year or 17 1/3 weeks; and
PDL does not need to be taken all at once, but can be taken on an as-needed basis as required by the employee’s health care provider.

For a copy of this poster, click here.

Under the California Code of Regulations, “[a]ny FEHA-covered employer whose work force at any facility or establishment is comprised of 10% or more persons whose spoken language is not English shall translate the notice into every language that is spoken by at least 10 percent of the workforce.” The Spanish version of the foregoing notice should be available soon at http://www.dfeh.ca.gov/Publications_Publications.htm.

Any time employers are required to update their posters and/or new (or amended) regulations are issued, employers should take the opportunity to ensure their workplace posters and their employee handbooks and policies are up to date and compliant.

For further information, please contact the author or any member of our Labor and Employment Practice Group.

Summary of Key New California Laws for 2016: What Employers Should Know

Governor Brown has signed several laws impacting California employers. A summary of some of the key new laws follows. The effective date of the particular new law is indicated in the heading of the Assembly Bill (AB) and/or Senate Bill (SB). As a reminder, the minimum wage in California is increasing to $10 per hour on January 1, 2016 based on previous legislation signed by Governor Brown in 2013.

AB 622 – E-Verify System (Effective January 1, 2016)

By way of background, under U.S. law, companies are required to employ only individuals who may legally work in the United States – either U.S. citizens, or foreign citizens who have the necessary authorization. E-Verify is an internet-based system that allows employers to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. The E-Verify system is administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the United States Social Security Administration (SSA).

In an effort to prevent discrimination in employment rather than to sanction the potential hiring and employment of persons who are not authorized for employment under federal law, AB 622 prohibits employers from using the E-Verify system to check the employment authorization status of existing employees or applicants who have not received an offer of employment, except as required by federal law or as a condition of receiving federal funds. The new law, which is codified in new Labor Code Section 2814, does not change employers’ rights from utilizing E-Verify, in accordance with federal law, to check the employment authorization status of a person who has been offered employment.

Further to the extent, the employer receives any notification issued by the SSA or the DHS containing information specific to the employee’s E-Verify case or any tentative nonconfirmation notice, which indicates the information entered in E-Verify did not match federal records, the employer will be required to provide the notification to the affected person, as soon as practicable.

Finally, in addition to other remedies available, an employer who violates this new law may be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, and each unlawful use of the E-Verify system on an employee or applicant constitutes a separate violation.

AB 970 – Enforcement of Employee Claims by Labor Commissioner (Effective January 1, 2016)

AB 970 expands the enforcement powers of the Labor Commissioner to enforce local laws regarding overtime hours or minimum wage provisions and to issue citations and penalties for violations, except when the local entity has already issued a citation for the same violation. This bill amends Labor Code Section 558 (pertaining to overtime) and Sections 1197 and 1197.1 (pertaining to minimum wage).

This bill also amends Labor Code Section 2802 pertaining to indemnification of employees by employers for expenses or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of the employee’s duties or as a result of obeying the employer’s directions. In addition to a private right of action by the employee under Section 2802 to recover for these expenditures, this bill now authorizes the Labor Commissioner to issue citations and penalties against employers who fail to properly indemnify employees.

AB 987 – Employment Discrimination (Effective January 1, 2016)

AB 987 is in response to findings by the California Court of Appeal, such as Rope v. Auto-Clor System of Washington, Inc., 220 Cal.App.4th 635 (2013), where the Court found that a request for accommodation by an employee for a disability or religious belief or observance, without more, is not a “protected legal activity” and does not support a claim for retaliation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (codified in Government Code Section 12940 et. seq.). This bill makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to retaliate or otherwise discriminate against an employee for “requesting” an accommodation for a disability or religious belief or observance, regardless of whether the request was granted.

AB 1506 – Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (Effective October 2, 2015)

AB 1506 amends Labor Code Sections 2699, 2699.3, and 2699.5 which codify California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) and took effect as of October 2, 2015.

By way of background, PAGA authorizes an allegedly aggrieved employee to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties, that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees for certain Labor Code violations. Under PAGA, an employer has the opportunity to cure certain alleged violations before a lawsuit is filed. However, there are also Labor Code violations that PAGA does not provide the employer with an opportunity to cure the alleged violation before a lawsuit is filed, such as violations under Labor Code Section 226, where an employer is required to provide an itemized wage statement (or paystub) containing very specific information, including but not limited to, wages, the inclusive dates of the pay period and the name and address of the legal employer.

Due to various lawsuits (including class action lawsuits) filed against employers on technical violations of Section 226 that did not in any way cause any injury to employees, this bill provides an employer with the right to cure a violation of the requirement that an employer provide its employees with the inclusive dates of the pay period and the name and address of the legal employer before an employee may bring a civil action under PAGA. The employer may cure the alleged violation within 33 calendar days of the postmark date of the notice it receives. This bill also provides that the alleged violation is deemed cured only upon a showing that the employer has provided a fully compliant paystub to each aggrieved employee and limits the employer’s right to cure with respect to alleged violations of these provisions to once in a 12-month period.

AB 1509 – Protections for Family Members (Effective January 1, 2016)

AB 1509 amends Labor Code Sections 98.6, 1102.5, 2810.3 and 6310, which generally prohibit an employer from discharging or taking any adverse action against any employee or applicant for employment because the employee or applicant has engaged in conduct protected by these code sections. Section 98.6 pertains to complaints of discrimination, retaliation or any adverse action made to the Labor Commissioner. Section 1102.5 pertains to complaints by whistleblowers. Section 6310 pertains to complaints about unsafe working conditions. And Section 2810.3 pertains to retaliation in alternative staffing context, such as temporary workers from staffing agencies or in the construction/contractor context.

This bill extends the protections of the foregoing provisions to an employee who is a family member of another person (i.e., where multiple family members work for the same employer) who engaged in, or was perceived to engage in, the protected conduct or made a complaint protected by these provisions. That is, an employer, or a person acting on behalf of the employer, shall not retaliate against an employee because the employee is a family member of a person who has, or is perceived to have, engaged in any acts protected by these provisions. The term “employer” or “person acting on their behalf” includes “client employers” (i.e., a business entity, regardless of its form, that obtains or is provided workers to perform labor within its usual course of business from a labor contractor) or a “controlling employer” (i.e., an employer listed in Labor Code Section 6400(b) regarding multi-employer worksites).

The bill further amends Labor Code Section 2810.3 to exclude liability on certain client employers, such as client employers that use Public Utilities Commission-permitted third-party household goods carriers.

AB 1513 – Piece-Rate Compensation (Effective January 1, 2016) (see footnote 1)

AB 1513, which adds new Labor Code Section 226.2 and repeals others, applies to employees who are compensated on a piece-rate basis for any work performed during a pay period. This new law requires that employees be compensated for rest and recovery periods and “other nonproductive time” (see footnote 2) separate from any piece-rate compensation as follows:

AB 1513, which adds new Labor Code Section 226.2 and repeals others, applies to employees who are compensated on a piece-rate basis for any work performed during a pay period. This new law requires that employees be compensated for rest and recovery periods and “other nonproductive time” separate from any piece-rate compensation as follows:

Rest and Recovery Periods. Employers are to compensate their employees for rest and recovery periods at a regular hourly rate that is no less than the higher of:

(i) An “average hourly rate” determined by dividing the total compensation for the workweek, exclusive of compensation for rest and recovery periods and any premium compensation for overtime, by the total hours worked during the workweek, exclusive of rest and recovery periods;

(ii) The “applicable minimum wage,” which is defined as “the highest of the federal, state or local minimum wage
applicable to the employment.”

For those employers who pay on a semimonthly basis, employees shall be compensated at least at the applicable minimum wage rate for the rest and recovery periods together with other wages for the payroll period during which the rest and recovery periods occurred. Any additional compensation required for those employees pursuant to the average hourly rate requirement is payable no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period.

Certain employers (see footnote 3) – who comply with the applicable minimum wage requirement – will have until April 30, 2016 to program their payroll systems to perform and record the calculation required under the average hourly rate requirement and comply with the itemized statement (or paystub) requirements (see below), so long as such employers pay piece-rate employees retroactively for all rest and recovery periods at or above the applicable minimum wage from January 1, 2016, to April 30, 2016, inclusive, and pay the difference between the amounts paid and the amounts that would be owed under the average hourly rate requirement, together with interest by no later than April 30, 2016.

Other Nonproductive Time. Employers are to compensate their employees for other nonproductive time at an hourly rate that is no less than the applicable minimum wage. The amount of other nonproductive time may be determined either through actual records or the employer’s reasonable estimates, whether for a group of employees or for a particular employee, of other nonproductive time worked during the pay period.

Further, Section 226.2 requires that additional information be added to wage statements, making compliance with wage statements more difficult. In addition to the list of items that are required by Labor Code Section 226 for itemized statements, Section 226.2 requires that the itemized statements include (a) the total hours of compensable rest and recovery periods, (b) the rate of compensation, and (c) the gross wages paid for those periods during the pay
period.

Further, those employers that do not pay an hourly rate for all hours worked in addition to piece-rate wages, then such employers must also list on the itemized statements (a) the total hours of other nonproductive time, (b) the rate of compensation for that time, and (c) the gross wages paid for that time during the pay period.

In addition, this new law provides that, until January 1, 2021, an employer has an affirmative defense to any claim or cause of action for recovery of wages, damages, liquidated damages, statutory penalties, or civil penalties based solely on the employer’s failure to timely pay the employee the compensation due for rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time for time periods prior to, and including, December 31, 2015, if the employer complies with certain specified requirements by no later than December 15, 2016, which include: (a) making payments to each of its employees, for previously uncompensated or undercompensated rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time from July 1, 2012, to December 31, 2015; (b) paying accrued interest; and (c) providing written notice to the Department of Industrial Relations of the employer’s election to make payments to its current and former employees by no later than July 1, 2016.

Finally, it appears that Section 226.2 applies to companies with a unionized workforce as Section 226.2 does not have a collective bargaining exemption.

SB 327 – Wage Orders: Meal Periods (Effective October 5, 2015)

By way of background, Labor Code Section 512 requires two meal periods for work periods of more than 10 hours. However, employees are allowed to waive their second meal period if the total hours worked in their shift is no more than 12 hours. Under Section 11(D) of Wage Order 5, however, health care industry employees who work shifts in excess of 8 total hours in a workday are permitted to waive their second meal period.

A recent appellate court decision, Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, 234 Cal.App.4th 285 (2015), held that Section 11(D) of Wage Order No. 5 is invalid to the extent that it conflicts with Labor Code Section 512 and that the California Industrial Welfare Commission exceeded its authority by creating an exception to Section 512’s meal period requirements.

Concerned that, without immediate clarification, hospitals will alter their scheduling practices as a result of uncertainties created by the Gerard decision, Governor Brown signed SB 327 on October 5, 2015 to amend Labor Code Section 516 effective immediately. Accordingly, this bill provides that the health care employee meal period waiver provisions in Wage Order 5 were valid and enforceable, and continue to be valid and enforceable.

SB 358 – Equal Pay Act (Effective January 1, 2016)

Under SB 358, known as the California Fair Pay Act, employers will be subject to one of the strictest and most aggressive equal pay laws in the country. The California Fair Pay Act is intended to increase requirements for wage equality and transparency and amends Labor Code Section 1197.5 relating to private employment. For a more thorough discussion of this new law, please click here.

SB 501 – Wage Garnishment Restrictions (Effective July 1, 2016)

SB 501 amends, repeals, and adds Section 706.050 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to wage garnishment. The new law reduces the prohibited amount of an individual judgment debtor’s weekly disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding order from exceeding the lesser of 25% of the individual’s weekly disposable earnings or 50% of the amount by which the individual’s disposable earnings for the week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage, or applicable local minimum hourly wage, if higher, in effect at the time the earnings are payable.

SB 579 – Employee Time Off (Effective January 1, 2016)

SB 579 amends Labor Code Section 230.8, which applies to employers with 25 or more employees. Under Section 230.8, employers are prohibited from discharging or discriminating against an employee who is a parent, guardian, or grandparent having custody of a child in a licensed “child day care facility” or in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for taking off up to 40 hours of unpaid time off each year for the purpose of participating in school activities, subject to specified conditions. The new law revises references to a “child day care facility” to instead refer to a “child care provider” and defines “parent” for these purposes as a parent, guardian, stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent of, or a person who stands in loco parentis to, a child, thereby extending these protections to an employee who is a stepparent or foster parent or who stands in loco parentis to a child. This new law also allows employees to take unpaid time off to enroll or reenroll their children in a school or with a licensed child care provider.

SB 579 also amends Labor Code Section 233, which applies to all employers. Under Section 233 (aka “California’s Kin Care Law”), employers are required to allow employees to use one-half of their accrued sick leave to care for a “family member” (as defined). In light of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (Labor Code Section 245 et. seq.), which went into effect on July 1, 2015, this bill requires an employer to permit an employee to use sick leave for the purposes specified in the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, redefines “sick leave” as leave provided for use by the employee during an absence from employment for these purposes, and prohibits an employer from denying an employee the right to use sick leave or taking specific discriminatory action against an employee for using, or attempting to exercise the right to use, sick leave for these purposes. In other words, employees may use paid sick leave for their own health condition or preventative care; a family member’s health condition or preventative care; if the employee is a victim of domestic assault, sexual violence, and/or stalking and needs to take time off. Further, “family member” now includes: a child regardless of age or dependency (including adopted, foster, step, or legal ward); parent (biological, adoptive, foster, step, in-law, or registered domestic partner’s parent); spouse; registered domestic partner; grandparent; grandchild; or siblings.

SB 588 – Judgment Enforcement by Labor Commissioner (Effective January 1, 2016)

Among the key provisions of this new bill, SB 588 provides the California Labor Commissioner with additional means to enforce judgments against employers arising from the employers’ nonpayment of wages. The new law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to use any of the existing remedies available to a judgment creditor and to act as a levying officer when enforcing a judgment pursuant to a writ of execution. The new law also authorizes the Labor Commissioner to issue a notice of levy if the levy is for a deposit, credits, money, or property in the possession or under the control of a bank or savings and loan association or for an account receivable or other general intangible owed to the judgment debtor by an account debtor.

For instance, if a final judgment against the employer remains unsatisfied after a period of 30 days after the time to appeal the judgment has expired and no appeal of the judgment is pending, the employer cannot continue to conduct business unless the employer has obtained a bond up to $150,000 (depending on the unsatisfied portion of the judgment) and has filed a copy of that bond with the Labor Commissioner. The bond shall be effective and maintained until satisfaction of all judgments for nonpayment of wages.

As a result of the foregoing new laws and amendments, employers should consult with legal counsel to ensure their policies are compliant and their employee handbooks are up to date.

_________________________________________________________________________

^1. AB 1513 also makes amendments to provisions of workers’ compensation for injuries sustained in the course of employment.

^2. “Other nonproductive time” is defined as time under the employer’s control, exclusive of rest and recovery periods, that is not directly related to the activity being compensated on a piece-rate basis.

^3. These employers are defined as: those acquired by another legal entity on or after July 1, 2015, and before October 1, 2015; those who employed at least 4,700 employees in California at the time of the acquisition; those who employed at least 17,700 employees nationwide at the time of the acquisition; and those that were a publicly traded company on a national securities exchange at the time of the acquisition.

Amendments to California’s New Paid Sick Leave Law

As California employers, and those non-California employers with employees in California, know by now, as of July 1, 2015, such employers were required to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works 30 days or more within a year under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (the “HWHFA”).

The HWHFA provides, among other things, that eligible employees are entitled to paid sick days for prescribed purposes to be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked, or alternatively, be provided at least 3 days or 24 hours on a lump sum method. The accrual rate method imposed by the HWHFA created several challenges for employers who were already providing paid sick leave, albeit under a different accrual method, such as per pay period, per month, per week etc. To provide some flexibility to employers in complying with the HWHFA and provide further clarifications to the HWHFA, on July 13, 2015, Governor Brown signed into law AB 304 to amend the HWHFA. The amendments are effective immediately and a summary of its key provisions are as follows:

1. An employer is now able to provide for employee sick leave accrual on a basis other than one hour for each 30 hours worked, provided that the accrual is on a regular basis and the employee will have 24 hours of accrued sick leave available by the 120th calendar day of employment, each calendar year, or each 12-month period. This means that employers no longer have the obligation to track actual hours worked (i.e., one hour for each 30 hours worked), on the condition that the employee accrues 24 hours of leave within the first 4 months of employment.

2. An employer is able to keep their pre-January 1, 2015 paid sick leave and/or paid time off (PTO) policies as long as:

a. these policies existed prior to January 1, 2015;

b. these policies provide for time off for the same purposes as specified in the HWHFA (including carry-over and use requirements);

c. these policies continue to provide an employee paid sick leave and/or PTO on an accrual and on a regular basis so that an employee, (including an employee hired into that class after January 1, 2015):

(i) has no less than one day (or 8 hours) of accrued paid sick leave or PTO within 3 months of each year of employment of each calendar year, or each 12-month period; and

(ii) was eligible to earn at least 3 days (or 24 hours) of paid sick leave or PTO within 9 months of each year of employment.

3. If an employer modifies the accrual method used in the policy it had in place prior to January 1, 2015, the employer must comply with the one hour for each 30 hours worked accrual method, or alternatively, provide for the lump sum method.

4. The amendments provide for a new method for calculating the rate of pay:

a. For non-exempt employees with different hourly rates, an employer now has an option on how to pay sick days. Paid sick time for nonexempt employees shall be calculated using either of the following two options:

(i) in the same manner as the regular rate of pay for the workweek in which the employee uses paid sick time, whether or not the employee actually works overtime in that workweek; or

(ii) by dividing the employee’s total wages, not including overtime premium pay, by the employee’s total hours worked in the full pay periods of the prior 90 days of employment.

b. For exempt employees, paid sick time must be calculated in the same manner as the employer calculates wages for other forms of paid leave time.

5. An employee must work for the same employer for at least 30 days in California in order to qualify for paid sick leave.

6. Employers who provide unlimited sick leave to their employees can satisfy notice requirements by indicating “unlimited” on the employee’s itemized wage statement.

7. The provisions of the original text of the HWHFA required an employer to reinstate accrued paid sick days to returning employees within one year of termination, resignation, or separation from employment. This requirement is unchanged by the amendments. However, if an employer paid out accrued PTO to an employee upon termination, resignation, or separation from employment, an employer is not required to reinstate accrued PTO if the employee is rehired within one year.

8. An employer no longer has the obligation to inquire into or record the purposes for which an employee uses sick leave or paid time off. However, as provided under the original text of the HWHFA, an employer is still required to keep records for three years documenting the hours worked and paid sick days accrued and used by an employee and to make those records available to the Labor Commissioner upon request.

9. The original text of the HWHFA contained an exemption for employees in the construction industry covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (which met certain requirements). The HWHFA previously defined “employee in the construction” to mean an employee performing onsite work associated with construction, including work involving alteration, demolition, building, excavation, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, improvement, repair work …”. (Emphasis added). The amendments removed the term “onsite”, which now broadens the exemption for employees in the construction industry because the focus is no longer on where the work is performed but rather on the work that employee is assigned to perform.

10. For employers governed by Wage Orders 11 (Broadcasting Industry) and 12 (Motion Picture Industry), the amendments delay to January 21, 2016 the requirements that these covered employers provide to their employees written notice setting forth the amount of paid sick leave and/or PTO available on each wage statement or other document on each pay date.

While most of the provisions of the amendments are welcomed news to employers because the amendments provide some flexibility and much needed clarifications, the amendments may perhaps be a little too late especially for those employers who expended significant resources to modify their PTO policies to be compliant as of July 1, 2015.

Non-compliance with the HWHFA and its amendments carry significant liabilities, and as such, employers should consult with legal counsel to ensure their paid sick leave and/or PTO policies are compliant.

San Francisco’s Retail Workers Bill of Rights Has Passed: Are you ready?

Operative July 3, 2015, companies located in San Francisco who are “Formula Retail Establishments” must comply with additional wage and hour requirements under the Retail Workers Bill of Rights (a combination of two ordinances, Ordinance 236-14 and Ordinance 241-14), the country’s first-ever such legislation.

Supporters claim that this new law is intended to improve life for retail employees which, according to some accounts, include more than 40,000 workers at 1,250 locations in the City of San Francisco. In passing the bill, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors found that Formula Retail Establishments are a major employment base and stated that the City has a strong interest in ensuring that jobs at these establishments allow employees to meet their basic needs and achieve economic security. An overview of this onerous and extensive legislation follows.

Formula Retail Establishments

The new law applies to companies who employ 20 or more employees in 20 or more locations worldwide and who operate a Formula Retail Establishment in San Francisco. Other than the number of locations, “Formula Retail Establishments” borrow from the definition of “Formula Retail Use” in The San Francisco Planning Code and generally have standardized merchandise, facade, worker apparel, interior design, signage and/or trademarks. Of course retail stores are included, but so are many businesses that one would not commonly think of as retailers. For example, hotels, restaurants, bars, movie theatres, certain financial institutions, and “Property Services Contractors” such as janitorial and/or security services contractors. For a full listing, click here.

Part-Time Employee Preferences and Retention After Ownership Change

Under this new law, employers are generally required to: (a) offer additional hours of work to current part-time employees before hiring new employees or subcontractors; and (b) retain employees (i.e., by the successor employer) for 90 days upon change in ownership control of the business.

Initial Estimate of Minimum Hours

Prior to the start of employment, employers must provide new employees with a good faith estimate in writing of the employee’s expected minimum number of scheduled shifts per month, and the days and hours of those shifts. The estimate must not include on-call shifts. This is a non-binding estimate. It is not a contractual offer.

Two Weeks’ Notice of Work Schedules & Predictability Pay

Employers must give employees at least two weeks’ advance notice of employees’ work schedules. Changes on less notice requires employers to issue additional “predictability pay” for each previously scheduled shift that the employer moves to another date or time or cancels, or each previously unscheduled shift that the Employer requires the employee to come into work:

With less than seven days’ notice but 24 hours or more notice to the employee, one hour of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate
With less than 24 hours’ notice to the employee, two hours of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate for each shift of four hours or less
With less than 24 hours’ notice to the employee, four hours of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate for each shift of more than four hours

There are exceptions to predictability pay requirements, such as an employer request that an employee work overtime or fill in for another employee who is out due to sickness or discipline.

Pay for On-Call Shifts

Employers must provide employees with the following compensation for each on-call shift for which the employee is required to be available but is not called in to work:

Two hours of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate for each on-call shift of four hours or less
Four hours of pay at the employee’s regular hourly rate for each on-call shift of more than four hours

Equal Treatment to Part-Time Employees

Employers must generally provide part-time employees with equal treatment in the hourly wage, access to pro-rated time off, and eligibility for promotions.

Impact of Non-Compliance

The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) is authorized to take appropriate steps to enforce and coordinate enforcement of this new law, including the investigation of any possible violations, and order any appropriate relief, including, but not limited to, requiring an employer to offer additional hours of work to part-time employees, reinstatement, penalties, payment of lost wages and the payment of an additional sum as an administrative penalty that does not exceed the amount of the award for lost wages. Further, to compensate the City for the costs of investigating and remedying the violation, the OLSE may also order the employer to pay the City’s enforcement costs.

Conclusion

While this new law will take effect in January 2015, it does not become operative until July 3, 2015. As such, employers affected by the Retail Workers Bill of Rights have some time to determine how to best comply. This is an opportune time to review with counsel your employment and hiring practices, including the manner in which your company schedules employee shifts and changes them to ensure compliance by July 2015.

Should you have questions about this alert, please contact the authors or any other member of Drinker Biddle’s Labor & Employment Group.

Proposed California Paid Sick Leave Law Will Require Employers to Provide Paid Sick Leave to Employees

Are you a California employer currently providing paid sick leave to your employees? You may soon have to! California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) recently introduced legislation (Bill AB1522) approved by the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee requiring employers in the State of California to provide their employees with paid sick leave.

This bill would enact the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 to provide, among other things, that an employee who works in California for 7 or more days in a calendar year is entitled to paid sick days to be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employee would be entitled to use accrued sick days beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment. And employers would be subject to statutory penalties as well as lawsuits, including the recovery of attorneys fees by the aggrieved employee against employers, for alleged violations.

It is important to note that this type of bill is not new in California, as the San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance became effective on February 5, 2007 and all employers must provide paid sick leave to each employee — including temporary and part-time employees — who performs work in San Francisco.

The California Chamber of Commerce as well as other employer groups are opposed to this bill and view it as a job killer.

Stay tuned….

Are You Ready For Your Company’s Holiday Party?

Many companies start planning their holiday party now. Employers need to know that an employer can be held liable for accidents and injuries caused by their employees who over indulge themselves with alcohol at the party, even if the employee initially made it home safely! You read that correctly. The California Court of Appeal, in Purton v. Marriott International, Inc., recently held that the company was potentially liable for a fatal motor vehicle accident caused by one of its employees who had attended the company’s hosted party. While the employee arrived home safely, the employee left about 20 minutes later to drive another co-worker home. The co-worker was also intoxicated. During this trip the employee struck another car, killing its driver. The trial court granted summary judgment for the employer on the ground that the employer’s potential liability under the doctrine of respondeat superior ended when the employee arrived home.

The court of appeal reversed and held that an employer may be found liable for its employee’s tortious conduct “as long as the proximate cause of the injury occurred within the scope of employment. It is irrelevant that foreseeable effects of the employee’s negligent conduct occurred at a time the employee was no longer acting within the scope of his or her employment.” The court explained that a jury could conclude that the proximate cause of the injury, i.e., the employee’s alcohol consumption, and the negligent conduct, i.e., the car accident, occurred within the scope of his employment. The court further found that the going and coming rule, which generally exempts an employer from liability for the torts of its employees committed while going to or coming home from their work, was an “analytical distraction” because the “thrust of [plaintiff’s] claim for vicarious liability was that [the employee] was an `instrumentality of danger’ because of what had happened to her at work.” As such, the court focused on the “act on which vicarious liability is based and not on when the act results in injury.” The court also stated that the record presented sufficient evidence for a finding that the employee in question breached a duty of due care he owed to the public once he became intoxicated and that the employer “created the risk of harm at its party by allowing an employee to consume alcohol to the point of intoxication.”

This case certainly gives the definition of “within the course and scope of employment” a broader meaning. That said, the moral of the story: (1) don’t drink and drive; (2) don’t let your employees do so either; and (3) limit your employees’ consumption of alcohol at company events.