Month: September 2019

Labor & Employment

Print Shoot Pay Delay

Model posing for a photograph during a photo shoot
Photo Credit: istock.com/jacoblund

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Stephen Rossi

Finally, an employer-friendly law passed in California! Unfortunately, it only affects a small number of employees— but for those employers that are implicated, the law is a welcome reprieve.

 

On September 5, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 671, the “Photoshoot Pay Easement Act,” which went into effect immediately.  This law specifies that any short-term print shoot employee (from models to crew members) can be paid on the employer’s next regular pay day (including by mail), rather than on the last day they work. Continue reading “Print Shoot Pay Delay”

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Labor & Employment

Raising The Bar: DOL Ups Salary Basis Requirement For Overtime Exemptions

Midnight working concepts
Photo Credit: istock.com/takasuu

Written by Jeremy Mittman 

This week, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) unveiled the final version of its overtime exemption rule, which sets the annual salary threshold workers need to exceed to qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) “white collar” exemptions at $35,568 per year (up from the current annual salary threshold of $23,660).  The DOL estimates that about 1.3 million workers who hadn’t previously been eligible for overtime will now stand to receive it once the rule takes effect on January 1, 2020.

 

The FLSA’s “white collar” exemptions apply to employees employed in bona fide administrative, executive, professional, and computer-related capacities, as well as outside sales employees.  If employees meet the requirements for these exemptions (including, where applicable, the salary basis requirement), employers need not pay them overtime for any time worked over 40 hours per week under federal law.

Continue reading “Raising The Bar: DOL Ups Salary Basis Requirement For Overtime Exemptions”

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Labor & Employment

Have Independent Contractors in California? You May Need to Rethink That.

iStock-1044578200.jpg
Photo Credit: iStock.com/utah778

Written by Jeremy Mittman, Jeffrey Davine, Robert Lowe, and Susan Kohn Ross

On September 18, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law A.B. 5, codifying the “ABC test” adopted in the California Supreme Court decision, Dynamex (see, e.g. prior posts here, here, and here) and ensuring that most California workers should appropriately be classified as employees instead of independent contractors.  The bill goes into effect January 1, 2020.

Though supporters state that the bill is aimed primarily at the so-called “gig economy,” in reality A.B. 5 affects virtually every type of business in California.

Continue reading “Have Independent Contractors in California? You May Need to Rethink That.”

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Labor & Employment

California Arbitration Roundup: Employers Are 3-1 For Favorable Arbitration Rulings

definition of arbitration
Photo Credit: istock.com/Devonyu

Written by Jeremy Mittman

California employers received mostly good news this past month on the arbitration front, with a trio of pro-employer arbitration-related rulings.  The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling invalidating an employer’s arbitration agreement (discussed below) is a notable exception.

California Supreme Court Invalidates Employer’s Arbitration Agreement As Unconscionable.

In OTO LLC v. Ken Kho, the California Supreme Court ruled that an Oakland Toyota dealership’s arbitration agreement with a former employee was unenforceable and was so unfair and one-sided that it was procedurally and substantively unconscionable.  “Arbitration is premised on the parties’ mutual consent, not coercion, and the manner of the agreement’s imposition here raises serious concerns on that score,” the majority opinion said. Continue reading “California Arbitration Roundup: Employers Are 3-1 For Favorable Arbitration Rulings”

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Labor & Employment

Hold Your Horses: California Extends Deadline For Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Bethanie Thau In 2018, California passed a law that greatly expanded sexual harassment training requirements for employers (see here). Under the law, employers of as few as five people must provide two hours of interactive sexual harassment training to their supervisors and one hour to all non-supervisory employees. The training was to have been completed by January 1, 2020.  Just … Continue reading Hold Your Horses: California Extends Deadline For Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training

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