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.
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Namal Tantula
California Expands Family and Medical Leave Entitlements
**This is an updated version of our September 2, 2020 post.**
A new California statute will significantly expand current family and medical leave laws, by expanding the obligation to provide job-protected leave to small businesses with as few as five employees, allowing leave to be taken for additional reasons, and eliminating certain exceptions to employer obligations to provide leave.
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California to Potentially Expand Family and Medical Leave Entitlements
California is likely to significantly expand its family and medical leave laws, by expanding the obligation to provide job-protected leave to small businesses with as few as five employees, allowing leave to be taken for additional reasons, and eliminating certain exceptions to employer obligations to provide leave.
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Priority Hiring Required for Laid Off Workers of Covered Employers in Los Angeles
On April 29, 2020, the City of Los Angeles issued a new ordinance, entitled “COVID-19 Right of Recall,” that requires covered employers in Los Angeles to offer priority hiring for laid off rank and file workers, and to allow those workers 5 business days to accept or deny the offer of employment. Specifically, covered employers must send written offer letters – via mail, email, and written text message – to laid off workers for positions the person is qualified for that become available after June 14, 2020. A laid off worker is qualified for a position if he or she held the same or similar position at the same site of employment prior to his or her separation, or can be qualified with the same training offered to a new worker hired into that position.
The ordinance takes effect on June 14, 2020.
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Congress Considers Limiting Pre-dispute Arbitration Agreements in the Employment Context
Many employers require employees to sign arbitration agreements at the inception of the employment relationship and prior to any disputes, such as part of their new hire packets or as a condition of their employment. Recently, Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to invalidate such pre-dispute arbitration agreements.
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Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express: The Reasonable Accommodation of an Employee’s Family
In Luis Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, the California Court of Appeal held that California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) – which requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees with disabilities – now requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees who are associated with a disabled person. This is an unprecedented decision and will likely to be appealed. Until that time, employers should train supervisors to seek assistance from human resources when making accommodations decisions, and to treat any such decisions on a case-by-case basis.
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