$65 million in grants available for Agricultural Employers experiencing a worker shortage & using the H-2A visa program (up to $2 million per employer)

The United States Department of Agriculture has set aside $65 million through the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Grant Program (FLSP). Through this program, employers in the agriculture industry can obtain from $25,000 to $2,000,000 from the government to use in salaries, housing, plane tickets for H-2As flying to and from the U.S., equipment, …

California Adds Additional Paid Sick Leave Days to start Jan. 1, 2024

On October 4, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to expand workers’ paid sick leave. SB 616 by Senator Lena Gonzales (D-Long Beach) guarantees workers at least five paid sick days per year, up from the current three days, while also increasing the accrual and carryover amounts. The new law provides for forty hours, …

Affecting all US Employers! Remote Verification for I-9s ends July 31, 2023

The COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, will end on July 31, 2023. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that employers must complete in-person physical document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely during the temporary flexibilities by August 30, 2023." This will affect most employers who have hired employees after …

Now 5 Days of Bereavement Leave for Companies with 5 Employees in CA

Starting January 1, 2023, California employers with five (5) or more employees must provide five (5) days of unpaid bereavement leave for death of a qualified family member. A "family member" is defined as a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent or grandchild. The new bill, AB 1949, requires that leave be completed …

New Rules for CA Employers to Provide Pay Scale Ranges to Employees and in Job Ads

Senate Bill 1162, set to take effect on January 1, 2023, amends Section 12999 of California’s Government Code, and Section 432.3 of the Labor Code, to expand requirements for pay data and pay scale reports, and imposes civil penalties for employers who fail to file. California employers, particularly those with 100 or more employees, may …

California Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Extended to December 31, 2022

by Laura Lee Just as the Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) was due to expire in September, Governor Newsom extended legislation to require employers of 26 or more employees to continue to provide job-protected leave to workers for COVID-19 related reasons. The SPSL bill is effective retroactively from January 1, 2022 to the new deadline …

New Minimum Wages July 1st for CA, CT, D.C., FL, IL, MN, NV, and OR

By Jennifer Grady, Esq. Effective July 1, 2022, the states and municipalities listed in the chart below will raise the minimum wage.  Please review the chart carefully to see if your state and locality may be affected by the new rates. Some raises in the minimum wage are specific to certain types of workers, and …

California Set To Increase Minimum Wage to $15.50 on January 1, 2023

by Jennifer Grady, Esq. Due to rising inflation rates, the minimum wage is set to increase in California to $15.50 per hour, for all employees, ahead of schedule, on January 1, 2023. Effective January 1, 2017, the minimum wage for all industries will be increased yearly. From January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2022, the …

Employers Will No Longer Accept Expired “List B” Documents for I-9 Verification after May 1

by Jennifer Grady, Esq. On May 1, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security will terminate the COVID-19 Temporary Policy that allowed employers to accept expired "List B" documents to serve as proof of identity from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 to April 30, 2022. The temporary policy was put in place at the …

Independent Contractor Law Updates for 2022 That Apply to Specific Professions

by Jennifer Grady, Esq. Assembly Bill No. 1561, which went into effect January 1, 2022, contains key updates for certain professional services and their classification as independent contractors according to the ABC test. Read on to see which professions are most directly impacted by the latest updates. What is the ABC test? In September 2019, …

New Record Keeping, Wage Theft, and Workplace Posting Rules for 2022 in California

With a new year comes a slew of new employment laws for California business owners. See below for updates to the record keeping and posting requirements, and wage theft determinations that all can apply to employers across all industries. Read on to see if your business may be affected. Employee Personnel Records To Be Held …

CA Supreme Court Makes More Complicated Meal/Rest Premium Calculations Effective Retroactively

by Jennifer Grady, Esq. In a bold move that affects most California employers, on July 15, 2021, the California Supreme Court issued a decision that will dramatically increase employers’ potential liability for missed meal, rest, and recovery breaks. In Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, the court unanimously held that employers must pay premium payments to …

Updated COVID Guidance from Cal/OSHA on Masks, Vaccinations, Testing, and Physical Distancing

On June 17, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted to adopt the revised COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards. Within minutes, Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order for the updates to take effect immediately, for up to 210 days until January 14, 2022. Businesses should be aware of these current regulations regarding face …

SB95 Provides 80 Hours Paid Sick Leave for Vaccinations and COVID Symptoms Retroactive to January 1, 2021

On March 19, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 95, which ensure access to up to 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for eligible employees, including those advised to quarantine or isolate, to get or recover from a vaccine, and those caring for COVID-impacted family members until September 30, …

Solutions for Employee Recruitment and Retention in a COVID-19 World

By Deirdre Hudson, Legal Recruiter, Principal, & Co-Founder at HERS Advisors (Honest. Ethical. Responsible. Solutions.) and Jennifer Grady Esq., employment attorney at The Grady Firm, P.C. Photo by Armin Rimoldi from Pexels Now that we are almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, companies are no longer in emergency triage mode, and are trying to …