Presented By:Treaver K. HodsonFebruary 12, 2015

Compensation

Discrimination

Arbitration

Company Liability

Company Procedures

Local Minimum Wage California-Wide (AB 10)

July 1, 2014: $9 / hr. Jan. 1, 2016: $10 / hr.

Oakland (Measure FF) Mar. 2015: $12.25 / hr.

San Francisco (Prop J) May 1, 2015: $12.25 / hr July 2016: $13 / hr July 2017: $14 / hr July 2018: $15 / hr

Sick Leave (AB 1522) Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014

An employee who works in CA for 30 or more days in a year is entitled to accrued sick leave starting July 1, 2015

Can begin using paid leave after 90 days of employment

Accrued leave not need to be paid at termination or separation of employment

Ambiguities regarding caps to paid

sick leave benefit

Paid Sick Leave Posting Labor Code section 2810.5

Employers required to include information about employee’s right to paid sick leave in “Notice to Employee”

This notice must be used starting January 1, 2015, although paid sick leave does not start until July 1, 2015

Waiting Time Penalties (AB 1723) Expands Labor Commissioner’s authority on

citations

It is not a new penalty, but introduces a new way of imposing waiting time penalties to employers that willfully fail to timely pay wages to an employee who is discharged or quits

Vranish v. Exxon Mobil Corp. In collective bargaining agreements, employers

/ unions can define overtime in a manner that trumps California’s overtime rules

Rhea v. General Atomics Exempt employees can be required to use

vacation leave hours when absent

While CA’s law prohibits employers from forfeiting vacation time, the requirement to use vacation time for partial-day absences does not comprise forfeiture

Mendiola v. CPS Security SolutionsWhen an employee is scheduled to work or be

on call for less than 24 hours, on-call time is compensable if the employer sufficiently restricts employee’s ability to engage in non-work activities

If working or on-call for 24 hours or more, up to 8 hours can be unpaid as non-compensable sleep time

If receiving less than 5 hours of uninterrupted free time during a 24-hour shift, then employers must pay the entire on-call period

Additional Issues SB 855: Companionship services are covered

under FLSAAB 2288: Child Labor Protection Act damages SB 1360: Rest and recovery periods count as

hours workedAB 2074: Longer statute of limitations for

recovering liquidated damages for unpaid wagesAB 1556: Unemployment insurance eligibility for

training periods

Additional IssuesSandifer v. U.S. Steel Corp.: unionized

employers don’t pay for “donning and doffing” time

Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk: employers don’t pay for security screening time

Escriba v. Foster Poultry Farms, Inc.: employees expressly declining to use FMLA leave can be denied relief under statute

Anti-Bullying Law / Abusive Conduct Training (AB 2053)

Employers that are required to provide sexual harassment training must provide “abusive conduct” training as well

What is abusive conduct?

Law does not detail what the training should include, or how long the training should be

Question of whether this creates a new cause of action for “abusive conduct”

Additional IssuesSB 1087: Farm labor contractors mandated

to provide sexual harassment prevention trainings

AB 1443: Anti-discrimination protection for volunteers and interns

AB 1660: No discrimination for undocumented driver’s licenses

AB 2751: Immigration related protections

Additional IssuesVance v. Ball State: Clarification of when

employees are Title VII supervisors

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar: Plaintiffs have a higher burden of proof in retaliation cases

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.: Employers are allowed to object to providing contraception for religious reasons

No Mandatory Arbitration of Hate Crimes (AB 2617)

Cannot require signing of arbitration agreement that waives right to sue under Ralph Civil Rights Act or Tom Bane Civil Rights Act

Businesses also cannot refuse to contract with others who refuse to waive these rights

Arbitration is Less Confidential (AB 802)

Requires large-scale arbitration providers to collect and publish certain details about consumer arbitration proceedings

Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles: Exclusion of PAGA

Employer arbitration agreements with workers cannot bar claims brought under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA)

USSC declined to review this CA Supreme Court decision

Shared Liability for Subcontractors (AB 1897)

Labor Code section 2810.3 Targets businesses that obtain workers to perform labor

within its “usual course of business” from a labor contractor

Businesses are now liable for their labor contractor’s failure to pay wages, provide worker’s compensation, or violation of other labor codes

Joint employment relationship

Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers

Principal consideration for class certification in an independent contractor misclassification case is whether there is a common way to show the extent of the hirer’s “right to control” the workers

Key is not how much control is exercised, but how much right to exercise power is retained over the employee

Alexander v. FedEx Ground Package Sys., Inc.

FedEx drivers were improperly classified as independent contractors

Ninth Circuit held that the drivers were employees under California’s right-to-control test This test looked at the employer’s ability to control: the

appearance of drivers and vehicles, shifts, procedure for delivery, and so on

Company Procedure Issues AB 326: E-mails can be used to report injuries SB 1314: Expanded deadlines to appeal EDD

determinations AB 2536: Emergency rescue personnel allowed to

take time off for emergency duty White v. County of LA: Employer can order employee

to undergo 2nd re-evaluation of unfitness for duty Castaneda v. Ensign Group, Inc.: Parent corporations

may have liability for nonpayment of wages NLRB 29 CFR Parts 101, 102, 103: Rule changes for

expedited elections

Presented By:Treaver K. Hodson