On January 1, 2019, the minimum wage will rise in 20 states and on the federal level for employees of federal contractors. While state-level minimum wages remain a popular solution for regional cost-of-living differences, municipal minimum wages are increasingly seen as a remedy for cost-of-living differences between cities and counties within an individual state. 20 Read more
What is Prop 65? California’s Proposition 65 (“Prop 65”), officially known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, requires businesses to warn the public before knowingly and intentionally exposing them to chemicals “known to the State of California” to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. The state maintains a list of Read more
Raising the Minimum Wage at the Local Level Each year at this time, many cities and counties across the country increase their minimum wage rates to keep up with inflation. Some of these laws are in response to the grassroots cause “Fight for $15,” which is aimed at incrementally raising local minimum wage rates until Read more
A Candid Look at Restroom Parity As part of its mission to educate employers and workers and prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has just released an updated version of the mandatory Transgender Rights in the Workplace posting. The updated Transgender Rights posting provides indispensable Read more
Although opinions differ as to the cause, the wage gap between male and female workers persists even today – on average, women earn roughly 80% of what men earn over the course of a lifetime. Some equality advocates have argued that the common employer practice of using a new hire’s previous salary to determine their Read more
On January 1, 2018, the minimum wage increased in 18 states, an even greater number of municipalities, and on the federal level for employees of federal contractors. Employers were required to pay employees at the updated hourly wage rate and, in many cases, update their outdated workplace posters with a 2018 minimum wage poster. While Read more
For nearly twenty-five years, both the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) have required large employers, those with 50 or more employees, to provide their employees with 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to bond with a newborn, newly-adopted child or newly-placed foster child. Small businesses are, Read more
Preparing weekly work schedules is often like solving a puzzle. It means forecasting demand, controlling payroll, and taking into account employee availability. This makes scheduling in industries that have frequent call outs, high turnover rates, or seasonal livelihoods, such as the retail or restaurant industries, particularly tricky. Employee scheduling is also affected by limitations and restrictions Read more
Nationwide, “ban the box” laws are being adopted with increasing frequency. Broadly speaking, these laws prohibit employers from considering an applicant’s or employee’s criminal history in making employment decisions until a certain point in the hiring or deliberation process. Currently, 25 states, the District of Columbia, and many metropolitan areas have adopted ban-the-box type laws. Read more
Rounding Practices Frequently, employers’ timekeeping practices include “rounding policies” and “grace periods”. These policies permit employees’ clock-in time to be adjusted around start and stopping work times for administrative purposes. If an employer has a quarter-hour “rounding policy,” employee time is rounded to the nearest quarter hour. Therefore, an employee who clocks in at 8:07 Read more
