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Each year, the California Chamber of Commerce identifies proposed state legislation that the Chamber believes “will decimate economic and job growth in California.”  The Chamber refers to these bills as “Job Killers.” In March, the Chamber identified the first two Job Killers of 2019: AB 51 and SB 1.
Continue Reading California Chamber of Commerce Identifies First “Job Killer” Bills of 2019

In a brief filed on September 7, 2016, the National Labor Relations Board urged the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to uphold its new “joint employer” standard, set forth in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (Aug. 27, 2015). Through this new standard, the Board now seeks to impose collective bargaining and other NLRA obligations on companies that may indirectly control certain conditions of employment, or that merely reserve (but do not exercise) such control. …
Continue Reading Briefing Continues in Browning-Ferris Appeal

A concerned business community has closely followed the NLRB’s shifting views on the concept of “joint employers” – separate companies that are deemed to be so interconnected that they should be treated as one for purposes of labor relations activity and unfair labor practice liability. In August of last year, the NLRB decision in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (Aug. 27, 2015), put into place a broad new test that dramatically expands the definition of “joint employer.” Now, an entity will be found to be a joint employer if it exercises only indirect control over the employment terms and conditions of another company’s employees. Indeed, joint employer status can be established if a company simply possesses, but never exercises, the ability to control such terms.
Continue Reading Business Groups and Others Support Browning-Ferris’s Appeal of the NLRB’s New “Joint Employer” Standard

As previously reported, the EEOC announced on January 29, 2016 its proposal to require businesses with 100 or more employees to annually turn over pay data by gender, race and ethnicity.   The public has until April 1, 2016 to submit comments on the proposal.  Both the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the U.S.…

On Friday October 2, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1506 into law, amending California’s Private Attorneys General Act to provide an employer the right to cure certain technical violations of the California Wage Statement Law (Labor Code § 226) before the employer can be sued.
Continue Reading New California Law Helps Employers Avoid Some PAGA Suits

On September 28, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1897, a bill that extends liability for workers supplied by “labor contractors” to the contracting employer.
Continue Reading California Passes New Law Imposing Liability On Contracting Employers For Wage Violations Suffered By Contract Workers

We reported last week that the NLRB’s new “ambush election rule,” as it is called by some critics, is facing a federal court challenge from a coalition of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  The filing of that litigation has interfered with the Board’s plans to implement its employer notice posting rule, issued earlier this year.  That rule — which requires private-sector employers covered by the NLRA to post a notice that tells employees about their right to unionize, gives examples of unlawful employer and union conduct and tells employees how to contact the NLRB with questions and complaints — has also been challenged in the Chamber’s lawsuit.  The NLRB earlier had postponed implementation of the rule until January 31, 2012.  The judge, however, recently told the parties to the suit that she did not think the Board’s January deadline would allow them sufficient time to argue the merits of the rule.
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Continue Reading Under Pressure From Federal Court, NLRB Delays Employer Posting Requirement Until April 30, 2012