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Matt Sonne is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's Orange County office.

In effect since July 1, 2020, the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”).  Although the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic largely overshadowed the effective date of this
Continue Reading New Labor Obligations Contained In USMCA Present Risks for Covered Employers

Pursuant to Government Code Section 12999, employers of 100 or more employees, and at least one California employee, must report pay and hours worked data by establishment, job category, pay band, sex, race, and ethnicity to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).  The deadline to do so is March 31, 2021 and annually on every March 31 thereafter.  In enacting this legislation, the Legislature noted that hidden bias exists and is encouraging self-assessment of pay disparities along gendered, racial, and ethnic lines to encourage voluntary compliance with equal pay and anti-discrimination laws.
Continue Reading Upcoming Deadline for California Employers to Report Employee Pay and Hours Worked Data to the DFEH

Since 2005, California employers with 50 or more employees were required to provide at least 2 hours of sexual harassment training every 2 years to each supervisory employee, and to new supervisory employees within 6 months of their assumption of a supervisory position.  However, all employers may not yet know that the California anti-harassment training requirements were significantly expanded by the California legislature (SB 1343 and SB 788 – to read the prior article, click here).  Now, California employers with 5 or more employees must provide sexual harassment training and education by January 1, 2021 to not just supervisory employees, but non-supervisory employees as well. This new law requires many California employers to provide anti-harassment training, for the first time, in both English and Spanish. Specifically,
Continue Reading California’s Deadline is Fast Approaching: Employers Must Complete Harassment Prevention Training for English and Spanish-Speaking Workforces by Year’s End

In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, — U.S. — (June 24, 2013), the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision handed employers a victory by raising the legal standard that an employee must satisfy to prove unlawful retaliation. In Nassar, a physician attempted to show that his employer retaliated against him for complaining of discrimination. In ruling against the employee, the Court held that a litigant must meet a high standard of causation and prove that the retaliatory conduct was the “but-for” cause of the employer’s action rather than just one motivating factor.
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Requires Litigants To Prove “But-For Causation” In Workplace Retaliation Lawsuits