The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has updated two notices: the "Discrimination and Harassment in Employment are Prohibited by Law" notice and the "Family Care and Medical Leave (CFRA Leave) and Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL)" notice. According to the agency, the phrase "gender, gender identity, and gender expression" has been...

The State of California, Department of Industrial Relations Division of Workers' Compensation, has updated its Notice to Employees - Injuries Caused By Work. According to the agency, this change is mandatory and all employers must replace existing notices with the new version dated 06/10. Revisions to the notice include the following: ►Information added for employees seeking Temporary...

The Ninth Circuit Court, which is seated in California and which has jurisdiction over that and other western states, ruled last week that anyone working in California, even if just for an hour, is subject to that state's labor laws. The decision involved a lawsuit by traveling instructors for the Oracle Corp. who spent between five and thirty-five days teaching and working in California...

In the wake of several high-profile breaches of medical record privacy in California, the state has enacted new legislation that mandates costly civil penalties for HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) violations. Included in the mix are legal remedies for patients whose records have been accessed or shared illegally, including the right to sue their health care...

Besting all states' minimum wage standards, the cities of Santa Fe and San Francisco are pushing the $10-an-hour threshold. Santa Fe Mayor David Coss announced yesterday (Dec. 1, 2008) that the city's minimum wage would rise to $9.92 on Jan. 1, 2009. San Francisco is not far behind at $9.79 an hour. The State of Washington is the nearest competition, with a wage rate set to rise to $8.55 on...

In an effort to reduce air pollution and carbon monoxide emissions by 20 percent by the year 2012, San Francisco has passed an non-government employer mandate seeking to put employees on public transportation and/or in car and van pools. The ordinance gives employers three options commencing Jan. 19, 2009: Allow employees to deduct, pre-tax, the cost of transit and van passes (but...

The State of California has updated its Unemployment Insurance poster. The revisions include various changes throughout, including the removal of the "Local Office" section and the addition of a new section titled "Mail or Fax" as a new way to file an Unemployment Insurance claim. Contact Information was also updated for the Unemployment Insurance, Disability...

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association, representing restaurateurs in the City and County of San Francisco, has filed with the Supreme Court for a reivew of the Healthy San Francisco ordinance that requires businesses to "play or pay" for employee health insurance. The law reads that employers must provide health insurance or pay into a city-county fund. So far, Healthy San...

Only in California. The chief marketing officer for a firm called iFreedom Communications was awarded almost $4 billion by an arbitrator in a wrongful termination dispute. That was in January. The company took the judgment to be overturned in Los Angeles Superior Court , but the judge affirmed the judgment and tacked on another $150 million in fines to the tune of $1 million a day,...

California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) this week became the first in the nation to set standards for protecting against infectious airborne disease  in health care and related workplaces. The Aerosol Transmittable Disease (ATD) standard was voted on by the Cal/OSHA Standards Board on May 21 and filed July 7, 2009, with the Secretary of State. The ATD standard will take effect August 5....