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Ashley Hirano

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Ashley Hirano is a senior associate in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's San Diego office.

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For much of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many California employees have utilized leave entitlements through federal, state, and local paid sick leave statutes and ordinances.  As of December 31, 2020, however, the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), California’s COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (“CSPSL”) — and many local supplemental paid sick leaves (“LSPSL”) — have expired.  With coronavirus cases still surging nationwide and no additional guidance on the new exclusion pay requirements under the Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (“Cal/OSHA”) COVID-19 emergency temporary standards (“ETS”), California employers are left wondering what paid leave laws may apply to their employees in 2021.
Continue Reading What the Expiration of COVID-19 Paid Leave Laws Means for California Employers

The summer season is normally a time the children are off to summer camps, enrichment programs, or summer school sessions.  This year, however, employees are finding themselves without available childcare in the wake of continued widespread COVID-19-related closures.  As state and local governments vacillate between easing and increasing restrictions, normal summer programs may be unavailable, or if open, may be operating at significantly reduced capacities.
Continue Reading DOL Issues Guidance on FFCRA and Summer School/Camp Closures

As communities continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and additional guidance is issued by the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”), more state, county and municipal orders are being issued to combat the spread of the virus and protect the safety of residents and workers.  Many of these new or amended orders include a greater emphasis on social distancing and sanitation requirements for employers as well as the use of face coverings at businesses that remain operational.  Below are highlights from recent orders with links issued by the following Southern California Counties: Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego:
Continue Reading California Counties Mandate Face Coverings & Stricter Requirements for Businesses

The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a joint subcommittee hearing last week to analyze the “Save Local Business Act” (H.R. 3441 – Byrne), a measure that would amend the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act to limit joint employer liability. If passed, the Act would reverse the current “Browning-Ferris” rule, which sets forth a broad definition of “joint employer,” imposing liability and requiring bargaining in situations where a business possesses only potential and indirect control over the employees in question.
Continue Reading Save Local Business Act Introduced in the House

On May 2, 2017, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1180, better known as The Working Families Flexibility Act. The bill proposes to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to permit private sector employees to “bank” overtime hours for later comp time use. For example, an employee working 50 hours in a workweek could, instead of receiving overtime pay for those 10 overtime hours, roll those hours into his or her comp time bank for later use. Each hour banked would be banked at an overtime rate, meaning that in this example, those 10 overtime hours would be equivalent to 15 banked hours.
Continue Reading Comp Time for the Private Sector: House Passes “The Working Families Flexibility Act”

The new year will bring along a variety of new obligations for California employers.  Although some of the new laws clarify existing law and provide helpful guidance, several impose additional requirements.  This update highlights key provisions of some of the more notable changes taking effect in 2017.  Links to the statutes and/or prior updates regarding the same are provided where applicable.
Continue Reading California Employers – New Year, New Rules in 2017

On April 25, 2012, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued updated enforcement guidance on employers’ use of arrest and conviction records when making employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). The EEOC’s guidance (the “Guidance”) is intended to codify and build on its prior policies concerning employers’ use of criminal records. Nevertheless, the Guidance, which is effective immediately, supersedes the EEOC’s prior policies on this issue.
Continue Reading The EEOC Issues Updated Guidance on Employer Use of Arrest and Conviction Records