In 2024, the California Legislature enacted significant amendments to California’s Private Attorneys General Act (or “PAGA”). PAGA has been in effect for decades, and many believe that, while well-intentioned, it has come to be a boon for a select group of savvy plaintiff-side attorneys while resulting in minimal financial benefits for employees. The 2024 amendments, […]

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), a federal law that requires most U.S. businesses to report beneficial ownership information to the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) went into effect January 1, 2024, and is already facing legal challenges and questions surrounding its scope. Notwithstanding, the law remains in full force and effect […]

Websites and mobile apps (collectively referred as “websites”) operated by businesses “open to the public” (or places of “public accommodation”) have consistently been required to comply with the American with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), meaning that they must make sure their websites are accessible to people with disabilities. While this has been true for many years, […]

In our last issue of Perspectives, we summarized recent non-compete-related legislation in a California employer alert entitled “New Prohibitions and Penalties Concerning Noncompetition Clauses.” However, many employers continue to have questions about the practical takeaways regarding this legislation. So, here is a refresher summary focusing on the most impactful takeaways. Effective January 1, 2024, California […]

On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor released the details of a long-awaited “final rule” addressing when employers can classify workers as independent contractors under federal labor law. Our overall assessment of the FLSA “final rule” (effective March 11, 2024) (the “2024 Rule”) is that it will not materially impact independent contractor misclassification […]

Everywhere you turn these days Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is generally referred to, is in the news.  Whether it is an article talking about how AI will soon take over the world, or how it will free many of us from routine tasks we don’t want to do, it’s hard to escape the […]

Effective July 1, 2024, Senate Bill 553 (signed by Governor Newsom on September 30, 2023 and codified at California Labor Code Section 6401.9), California employers (with very few exceptions) must (1) establish, implement, and maintain an effective written workplace violence prevention policy / plan that includes specified information, training, and recordkeeping requirements and (2) provide […]

Effective January 1, 2024, California Business & Professions Code Section 16600.5 (via Senate Bill 699) was added to prohibit an employer from entering into or attempting to enforce a noncompete agreement regardless of whether the contract was signed outside of California.  Please note that nonsolicitation of clients and customers clauses have frequently been used by […]

In Alberto v. Cambrian Homecare (2023) 91 Cal.App.5th 482, a headline-grabbing April 2023 decision, the California Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s ruling invalidating an employee’s arbitration agreement. Notably, the Court found three separate provisions contained within three separate agreements signed by the employee in their hiring / onboarding materials—the arbitration agreement and two […]

Attention Corporate and LLC Clients: Effective January 1, 2024, there are new corporate reporting requirements for corporations and LLCs in the United States under the Corporate Transparency Act. Beginning on January 1, 2024, both domestic U.S. companies and foreign companies doing business in the United States will need to comply with reporting requirements under the […]