Senate Bill 553, which amends Labor Code section 6401.7 and adds Section 6401.9 requires most California employers to establish and train on a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan no later than July 1, 2024.

The minimum wage for healthcare workers will increase on June 1, 2024, with the addition of Labor Code sections 1182.14 and 1182.15 (enacted by SB 525). Notably, this law expands the definition of healthcare employee to include most employees who work in healthcare settings, including, for example, janitorial or housekeeping employees.

This is the second year that California is requiring employers to report not only their employees’ pay data but also pay data for individuals hired through labor contractors (i.e., staffing agencies). The reports are due May 8, 2024.

How do you navigate tricky situations in the workplace? 🤔

Like it or not, tricky workplace situations come up. And when they do, it can be challenging to determine how best to navigate the situation. Chantelle Egan, Director of MM’s Advice and Counsel Practice Group joined Melanie Naranjo, VP of People at Ethena, to work through some HR challenges and how to effectively navigate them.

It’s time to officially break up with your non-compete agreements and tell impacted employees that the relationship status has changed. Recent California laws, Assembly Bill 1076 (“AB 1076”) and Senate Bill 699 (“SB 699”), which revised and added Business and Professions Code sections 16600, 16600.1, and 16600.5, have declared that such agreements are void and that employers clinging to these clauses will be penalized and could be sued by their employees.

Complaints can be scary, but employers must investigate them early to protect their organization’s integrity and follow through on their promise to provide a safe, harassment-free workplace.

Chantelle Egan, Lead Investigator for MM Investigations, joined Ethena’s VP of People, Melanie Naranjo, to do a deep dive on how to conduct an investigation and emerge with a stronger company culture.

On January 18, 2024, the California Supreme Court tackled a divergence in appellate opinions regarding whether trial courts have inherent authority to dismiss a PAGA claim based on “manageability.” The Court determined that although trial courts can utilize several methods to effectively manage PAGA claims, they do not have the authority to dismiss such cases outright if they are deemed to be too intricate or time-consuming.