By Ilana R. Morady, Brent I. Clark, James L. Curtis, Benjamin D. Briggs, Adam R. Young, Patrick D. Joyce, Daniel R. Birnbaum, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 606 into law on September 27, 2021. It creates two new categories of Cal/OSHA violations: “enterprise-wide” and “egregious”. It
Continue Reading California Senate Bill 606 to Beef Up Cal/OSHA Enforcement Authorities
We’re pleased to announce that the 2021 version of our Cal-Peculiarities: How California Employment Law is Different, your indispensable California employment law guide, is now available, coinciding with our annual update webinar series on the same subject! Click here to request your copy today!
This edition, like its predecessors, aims to help private employers understand what’s peculiar about California
Continue Reading Time Again to Flex Those Pecs! 2021 Edition of Cal-Pecs Book Is Here!
By Coby Turner, Patrick D. Joyce, Ilana Morady, Adam R. Young, and Elizabeth M. Levy
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board (OSHSB) was supposed to consider changes to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on May 20, 2021. But after the CDC published a May 13, 2021 guidance saying that
Continue Reading For Real Now: Cal/OSHA Board Considering Changes to COVID-19 ETS
By Jaclyn Gross, Patrick D. Joyce, Bernard Olshansky, and Chantelle C. Egan
Seyfarth Synopsis: During the COVID-19 pandemic, California grocery, drug store, and other front-line workers have continued to sell essential products, stock shelves, clean buildings, and otherwise keep our economy moving. Several cities and counties have taken action—often in hap-hazard ways—to force the employers of these
Continue Reading Hap-Hazard Pay: COVID-19 Hazard Pay Ordinances
By Matthew Graffigna and Robert E. Buch
Seyfarth Synopsis: Senate Bill 1159 was signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 17, 2020, and went into effect immediately. Under the new law, if employees test positive for COVID-19 under specific circumstances, there is a rebuttable presumption that their exposure occurred at the workplace. Unless rebutted, this presumption creates a compensable
Continue Reading Workers’ Compensation Liability Is Catching In California
Seyfarth Synopsis: The controversy surrounding AB 5 unveiled a clear need for a new avenue of classifying so-called gig workers to combine the certainty of employee designations with the flexibility of gig jobs. What are the promises of and prospects for a hybrid classification that would provide workers with some employee benefits while also providing workers
Continue Reading GoT’s All-Seeing Three-Eyed Raven: The Gig Economy in California
We are pleased to announce the release of the 2020 edition of our in-demand book, Cal-Peculiarities: How California Employment Law is Different. The book is available in a convenient, searchable eBook format. Click HERE to order your copy to be delivered via e-mail today!
We also invite you to join us for a free webinar going over some of
Continue Reading Cal-Peculiarities 2020 Has Arrived!
By James L. Curtis, Mark A. Lies, II, Matthew A. Sloan, Adam R. Young, and Craig B. Simonsen
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill with bipartisan support that would require the Department of Labor to promulgate an OSHA standard specifically aimed at protecting healthcare and social service workers from workplace violence.
Continue Reading House Passes Legislation on Workplace Violence in Healthcare and Social Assistance
By Thomas F. Howley and Dov Kesselman
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL’s ARB rejected an employee’s SOX retaliation claim where he inadvertently provided information to his employer and only “hinted” that he was filing a SOX-protected complaint. The ARB seems unwilling to accept retaliation claims where the employee fails to report to, or actively conceals information from, the statutory entities under
Continue Reading ARB: No Protected Activity where Employee Inadvertently Informed Employer and Only “Hinted” at Filing Whistleblower Complaint
By Jay Connolly & Aaron Belzer
As cannabis growers and retailers struggle with the complex and onerous regulatory scheme governing California’s emerging legal marijuana marketplace, they may be excused for overlooking the requirements of California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986—more commonly known as Proposition 65. Neither the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act
Continue Reading Proposition 65: Yet Another Challenge for California Cannabis Businesses to Bend Their Minds Around