Littler Workplace Policy Institute

Alka Ramchandani-Raj and Corinn Jackson with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute dive into the numerous regulations and bills pending in California concerning workplace safety and health. Alka offers both background of existing law and analysis of the safety measures, including proposals about lead poisoning prevention, Valley Fever training requirements, and an indoor heat illness prevention program.

Bruce Sarchet, of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, and Marissa Dragoo with the Littler Learning Group, take a look at a new type of workplace training – bystander intervention training – that is now encouraged for California employers. This optional training teaches employees how to evaluate and respond to problematic behaviors in the workplace, empowering them to interrupt difficult situations, such as sexual harassment.

Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute review the key labor and employment measures introduced this year in the California legislature. Lawmakers have filed bills on a wide range of topics, from independent contractor classification to hairstyle discrimination – and beyond! Bruce and Corinn break down the most significant pending bills, identifying practical ramifications for employers and offering insights into the legislative history and process.

Bruce Sarchet, Corinn Jackson, and Eli Freedberg with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute explore a recent trend pitting progressive city councils against more conservative state legislatures. They discuss the proliferation of local ordinances regulating workplace issues (such as “fair workweek” requirements) and the resistance from some state lawmakers to these municipal assertions of power. The WPI team surveys the various state preemption laws, which are used to preclude cities and counties from adopting and enforcing certain types of ordinances, and addresses how litigation can come into play in resolving these disputes.

Effective January 1, 2019, California SB 1343 greatly expanded Golden State employers' anti-harassment training requirements. The law not only extends coverage to employers with as few as five employees, but it also mandates that employers provide anti-harassment training to all employees – not just supervisors – every two years. But what if an employer provided this training in 2018? Can the next training cycle wait until 2020? No, according to recent guidance from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). In this podcast, Marissa Dragoo from the Littler Learning Group discusses potential SB 1343 compliance challenges with Littler Workplace Policy Institute members Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson.

Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson, both with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, survey numerous wide-sweeping changes affecting California employers in 2019. They review several legislative highlights, three recent significant decisions issued by the California Supreme Court, and shifts in the composition of that court. Join Bruce and Corinn as they peer into their crystal ball to predict whether incoming Governor Gavin Newsom will rubberstamp employee-friendly bills presented by the legislature, which is now comprised of a super-majority of Democratic lawmakers, and what economic and other factors may influence his decision-making.

Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson, with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, chat with Betsy Cammarata of the firm’s Knowledge Management team about major upcoming changes to California laws governing employee release and confidentiality agreements. Bruce and Corinn explore three new laws (AB 3109, SB 820, and SB 1300) that nullify certain common contractual terms. SB 820, for example, generally outlaws provisions in settlement agreements that would prevent the disclosure of facts related to claims of sexual harassment. Bruce and Corinn discuss steps that employers can take now to prepare for compliance with these laws by the January 1, 2019 effective date.

Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute discuss recently-adopted amendments to the California salary history ban. Although the ban took effect this past January, the original statute left open numerous important questions. Bruce and Corinn review the new definitions included in the amendments, which clarify when employers must provide pay scale information to applicants and when the wage history of internal candidates may be considered. They also address how these amendments, effective January 1, 2019, fit in with the Golden State’s existing equal pay laws.

In this podcast, Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson, both with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, consider the compliance twists and turns of California’s salary history ban, which took effect on January 1, 2018. They look at if and how employers can consider salary history when making employment and salary decisions, even when that pay history has been voluntarily disclosed by applicants. Bruce and Corinn also discuss how the law impacts employers that do not maintain physical locations in the Golden State, and how employers may need to adjust their application and hiring protocols to comply with the new restrictions.

Bruce Sarchet and Corinn Jackson, both with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, discuss a noticeable trend developing in the hotel industry. They review the burgeoning popularity of laws requiring hotel employers to provide certain workers – primarily guestroom cleaning staff – with panic buttons to be used in emergencies, including instances of sexual harassment by guests. Bruce and Corinn survey panic button ordinances enacted in Seattle, Sacramento, and Chicago. They also consider a bill pending in California that would impose similar obligations statewide.