On June 28, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance designed to increase safety protections for hotel workers in hotels, to limit their daily workload, and to raise their wages. Mayor Eric Garcetti is anticipated to sign the ordinance, which would then take effect 30 days later.
Called the “Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance,” or HWPO, the new law…

On June 17, 2022, Governor Newsom issued an executive order terminating certain provisions of prior executive orders related to Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS). Some of the terminated orders were no longer necessary due to changes in the ETS. For example, previously the Governor had issued an executive order stating exclusion periods could not be longer than California Department…

Under California Labor Code 2802, employers are required to reimburse employees for necessary expenses incurred in executing their job duties for their employer. This reimbursement requirement may apply to the use of the employee’s personal vehicle for work purposes, such as driving between work sites. An employee’s regular commute does not typically require reimbursement, just as commute time generally is…

The City of Los Angeles, like many other major cities in the state of California, has several local employment law ordinances in effect.  Employers should also be aware that the County of Los Angeles has some separate local ordinances that apply only to unincorporated areas of the county and do not apply to the City of Los Angeles.
Here is…

In a recent decision by the Ninth Circuit, the Court of Appeals upheld the district court ruling in favor of grocery chain WinCo Holdings, Inc., holding that plaintiffs who were not yet employees when they took drug tests were not entitled to compensation for the time spent being tested.
In Johnson v. WinCo Foods Holdings, Inc, et al. (WinCo), a…

It may come as a surprise to some, but Cal/OSHA’s workplace violence regulations currently apply only to the Health Care Industry. Cal/OSHA plans to change that.
Right now, for non-healthcare industries, Cal/OSHA regulates workplace violence using the employer’s obligation to regularly identify and evaluate workplace hazards under Section 3203, California’s version of the general duty clause.
Cal/OSHA recently released…

On January 1, 2022, California’s statewide minimum wage increased to $15.00 ($14.00 for employers with 25 employees or less).  A statewide minimum of $15.00 for all businesses was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2023.  However, as a result of rates of inflation of over 7%, a further statutory increase has been triggered and the statewide minimum wage…