The new decade is starting off with a massive swell of important new laws and regulations that will affect California businesses. There are so many new laws and regulations that companies have to be on their toes especially at the start of 2020 to get their bearings. This is the first of a two-part entry […]
More and more companies are being sued for discrimination by job applicants who have legally been prescribed medical marijuana, after they failed pre-employment drug screenings or because of their use of the substance. The issue of medical marijuana is difficult in terms of the employment picture, especially now that 33 states and the District of […]
Imagine several small businesses located around the country. Each is well-established and profitable. Each of them bought business insurance – property, liability, automobile and workers’ compensation. They told their agents they wanted the lowest possible price for coverage, and the agents came through. But they didn’t also take their agents’ recommendations to purchase additional coverage. […]
All year long you have been reminding your employees to “work safely … don’t take short cuts … prevent accidents.” To do this they have to keep their minds on their work, but this time of the year as the holidays near, their minds might be everywhere else but on work. They may be thinking […]
One outgrowth of a new California law that applies more stringent criteria for what constitutes an independent contractor is that many employers are likely to see more audits and calls for additional premium from their workers’ comp insurers. In fact, it’s already happening in some industries, according to the insurance industry trade press. More and […]
As a business, you have to keep employees happy but still maintain workplace discipline. And it’s important that you protect your customers and your assets without making it seem you don’t trust your employees. Companies employ a variety of methods to make sure their workers stay on task and aren’t goofing off. But you don’t […]
After years of trying and rejections by former governors, a bill banning mandatory employment arbitration agreements in California has become law. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10 signed into law Assembly Bill 51, which prohibits almost all employment arbitration agreements, starting Jan. 1 next year. But because the new law conflicts with federal law, it […]
As you should already be aware, any employer with five or more workers is required to conduct sexual harassment prevention training for their staff by the end of 2019 under a California law passed in 2018. Due to concerns that many employers in the state may not be ready to comply, Gov. Gavin Newsom has […]
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a measure into law that will greatly expand when employers are required to report workplace injuries to Cal/OSHA. The new law, AB 1805, broadens the scope of what will be classified as a serious illness or injury which regulations require employers to report to Cal/OSHA “immediately. As of yet, there […]
A lockout/tagout program will not be effective if your employees are not properly trained in how it works, and if you don’t have consequences for them if they fail to follow the program. Every year, hundreds of workers in the United States die because they don’t follow lockout/tagout procedures or their employers did not have […]