Legislation

In March 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) introduced COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification that allowed employers operating remotely to verify employee identity and employment authorization documents virtually

Today (March 16, 2023), the U.S. Copyright Office issued a statement clarifying its practices for examining and registering works containing material generated through use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology. 

In 2018, California passed a controversial law called AB-51 (now Labor Code Section 432.6) that prohibited California employers from requiring arbitration agreements as a condition of employment – on pain of jail time and civil penalties.  AB-51 was immediately challenged and preliminarily enjoined under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), which was passed almost 100 years ago to combat judicial “hostility” towards arbitration and preempts any law that discriminates against arbitration agreements.

The Monitoring Association (TMA) welcomed its 119th Emergency Communications Center (ECC) in the United States and its first agency in the state of California to implement the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP). The state of California became the 22nd state in the United States to participate in the ASAP program. Launched in 2011 as a public-private partnership, TMA’s ASAP service is designed to increase the accuracy and efficiency of calls for service from alarm companies to Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs).

On December 27, 2022, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office released FAQ guidance (the “Guidance”) on California’s new pay transparency law (the “California Pay Transparency Law”) pay scale disclosure requirements.

 California Governor Gavin Newson has approved and signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, an amendment to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) that will take effect on January 1, 2023. AB 1949 now requires covered California employers to provide eligible employees with five days of unpaid bereavement leave for the death of a qualifying family member. 

Is your company hiring?  If so, it’s important to know that California has passed new requirements for job postings and important disclosures to applicants and employees.

 To ensure a continuing supply of telephone numbers, the California Public Utilities Commission has approved an all-services overlay for the 707 area code region.

In what has become an all too familiar practice of overruling and reinstating precedent based on the political party in control of the Executive Branch, last week, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) reinstated the test that applies when analyzing whether an employer’s dress code or uniform policy interferes with employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.  In Tesla Inc., 370 NLRB No. 131 (Aug. 29, 2022), at issue was an employer policy requiring employees to wear a designated uniform in its production facility and prohibiting employees from wearing any unauthorized clothing, including tee shirts with union insignia.