As 2025 approaches, staying ahead of legal changes is more crucial than ever—and we are here to help you prepare. We hope you can join us for this informative webinar, including a Q&A session, on Wednesday, November 13 at 11:00 a.m. PST to help you navigate the year ahead with confidence.  Click here to register.  We hope to see you there!

Joining us from a prestigious Northern California employment law firm, Melissa has over two decades of employment law experience. A true Jill of all trades, Melissa is a litigator, trial attorney, advisor, trainer, and investigator. As a litigator, she has over 50 jury trials under her belt and focuses on defending harassment and discrimination claims (both in the courtroom and in early dispute resolution). Melissa also has broad expertise providing advice and counsel to employers, conducting impartial workplace investigations, and facilitating dynamic training for employees and HR professionals.

The Legislature passed Assembly Bill 2288 and Senate Bill 92 Thursday, June 27, 2024, and the Governor signed New PAGA into law this week on Monday, July 1, 2024. If you missed our 2024 PAGA Revamp webinar yesterday, check out the replay and the slides here, where you’ll learn the most important things employers need to know to take advantage of the new law. Our litigation and compliance leaders shared how you can immediately take advantage of New PAGA through proactive wage and hour compliance.

The proposed changes to PAGA (as mentioned in our last communication) are now in draft legislation and are making their way through the legislative process. Please join us for an informational panel-style webinar on Tuesday, July 2 at 12 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss the most important things employers need to know to take advantage of the new law.

Below are five quick things employers should know about the PAGA reform currently underway in the legislature. While this is a preliminary assessment based on the limited information we have so far, we wanted to provide employers with the key takeaways from these developments. We will continue to keep you updated as this develops.

Earlier today, the California governor, state legislative leaders, and business and labor groups announced a deal to reform the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), which will change the law while avoiding the ballot measure scheduled for later this year.

Senate Bill 553, which amends Labor Code section 6401.7 and adds Section 6401.9 requires most California employers to establish and train on a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan no later than July 1, 2024.

The minimum wage for healthcare workers will increase on June 1, 2024, with the addition of Labor Code sections 1182.14 and 1182.15 (enacted by SB 525). Notably, this law expands the definition of healthcare employee to include most employees who work in healthcare settings, including, for example, janitorial or housekeeping employees.

This is the second year that California is requiring employers to report not only their employees’ pay data but also pay data for individuals hired through labor contractors (i.e., staffing agencies). The reports are due May 8, 2024.

The newest fast food worker law, California Labor Code sections 1474 -1477 (enacted by AB 1228), increases fast food workers’ hourly wages on April 1, 2024. The law requires fast food employers to pay fast food employees at least $20 per hour, establishes a Fast Food Council, and repeals the FAST Recovery Act.

How do you navigate tricky situations in the workplace? 🤔

Like it or not, tricky workplace situations come up. And when they do, it can be challenging to determine how best to navigate the situation. Chantelle Egan, Director of MM’s Advice and Counsel Practice Group joined Melanie Naranjo, VP of People at Ethena, to work through some HR challenges and how to effectively navigate them.

It’s time to officially break up with your non-compete agreements and tell impacted employees that the relationship status has changed. Recent California laws, Assembly Bill 1076 (“AB 1076”) and Senate Bill 699 (“SB 699”), which revised and added Business and Professions Code sections 16600, 16600.1, and 16600.5, have declared that such agreements are void and that employers clinging to these clauses will be penalized and could be sued by their employees.

Complaints can be scary, but employers must investigate them early to protect their organization’s integrity and follow through on their promise to provide a safe, harassment-free workplace.

Chantelle Egan, Lead Investigator for MM Investigations, joined Ethena’s VP of People, Melanie Naranjo, to do a deep dive on how to conduct an investigation and emerge with a stronger company culture.

On January 18, 2024, the California Supreme Court tackled a divergence in appellate opinions regarding whether trial courts have inherent authority to dismiss a PAGA claim based on “manageability.” The Court determined that although trial courts can utilize several methods to effectively manage PAGA claims, they do not have the authority to dismiss such cases outright if they are deemed to be too intricate or time-consuming.

As many of you know, California employment law compliance is not about good intentions—it’s about following the rules to the letter of the law. This holds true with employee wage statements (paystubs). Even seemingly minor violations of the Labor Code, like the wrong corporate address, can carry with them crushing penalties. These penalties apply to every employee, for every wage statement, for every pay period for up to a year until the violations are fixed.

Chantelle Egan, Director of MM’s Advice and Counsel Practice Group joined Melanie Naranjo, VP of People at Ethena, to provide the key to a successful company holiday party—mitigating risk without mitigating fun.

The California Governor has signed several bills impacting employers that go into effect in 2024. If you missed our 2024 California Legal Updates webinar, check out the replay and the slides here, where you’ll learn how they impact your existing policies and handbooks.

Another year; another legislative update. The Governor has signed several bills impacting employers that go into effect in 2024. To learn more about 2024 legal updates and how they impact your existing policies and handbooks, please join us for an informational webinar, including a Q&A session, on Thursday, November 30 at 11:00 a.m. PST.

Have you heard the one about the clients who loved their lawyers so much they made a banner? As an oft-maligned profession, attorneys are much more familiar with clients avoiding them than singing their praises, so this was a first for us!

The California Department of Finance published a letter on July 31, 2023, stating that the state minimum wage, which is currently $15.50 per hour, will be increasing to $16.00 per hour effective January 1, 2024, to account for inflation.