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Following in the steps of precedent setting legislation mandating women on boards two years ago, on September 30, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 979 into law mandating diversity on certain public company boards of directors. The new law requires publicly held corporations headquartered in California to include at least one person from an underrepresented community by the end of next year, with additional appointments required in future years.

New Obligations

The new legislation is the first of its kind in the U.S. and is the second time California seeks to mandate diversification of public company boards through legislation. (Read more about the 2018 legislation requiring companies to put female directors on their boards here.) The first piece of legislation aimed at increasing gender diversity; AB 979 seeks to increase diversity from “underrepresented communities.”

Continue Reading California Mandates More Diversity in Corporate Boardrooms

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We recently published an update to our 50-state Shelter-In-Place / Reopening Tracker.

Please see HERE. This is updated weekly.

For your convenience, here is a summary of the major updates from around the country:

  • The Governors of Hawaii, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Wisconsin extended their emergency declaration orders and/or the duration of the current phase of their reopening plans
  • Connecticut, Indiana, Maine and Oregon moved to the next phase of their respective reopening plans.
  • New orders were issued in Florida, Maryland, Michigan and Washington that allow for the reopening of, or increased capacity at, certain social or meting venues, including bars and restaurants.
  • The Governors of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York modified their tri-state COVID-19 travel quarantine list to add Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island and Wyoming. The tri-state list currently includes 35 states and territories.

For more information, please contact your Baker McKenzie attorney.

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We are please to share with you The Global Employer – Global Immigration & Mobility Quarterly Update which is a collection of immigration and mobility alerts from around the world.

Please click here to view.

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On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping (“Executive Order”), following a September 4, 2020 White House memorandum criticizing federal agencies for having “divisive, un-American” training sessions on “critical race theory,” “white privilege,” and other training teaching individuals that the US or any race or ethnicity is inherently racist. The September 4 memorandum instructed federal agencies to cease the funding of any training that fit the description.

The September 22 Executive Order brings federal contractors into the fold, prohibiting them from using any workplace training during the performance of a government contract that inculcates in their employees certain “divisive concepts,” and requiring them to carry those imperatives down to their subcontractors and vendors. Though the Executive Order was “effective immediately” as of September 22, the requirements for contractors affect federal prime contracts entered into on or after November 21, 2020, leaving some time for federal contractors to prepare-or watch as expected legal challenges to the Executive Order play out.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Executive Order, federal contractors can take steps to prepare in case the Executive Order applies come November. Here’s what federal contractors need to know now.

Continue Reading Can Federal Contractors Provide D&I Training? Executive Order on Combating Race and Sexual Stereotyping Leaves Federal Contractors With No Clear Answer

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The federal guidance on whether to classify a worker as an employee or an independent contractor continues to shift, as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new proposed rule favorable for companies. If finalized, the rule may provide businesses with greater latitude to engage independent contractors.

Continue Reading New DOL Proposed Rule Makes It Easier For Companies to Engage Independent Contractors

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We recently published an update to our 50-state Shelter-In-Place / Reopening Tracker.

Please see HERE. This is updated weekly.

For your convenience, here is a summary of the major updates from around the country:

  • The Governors of Illinois, Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Utah and Wyoming extended their emergency declaration orders and/or the duration of the current phase of their reopening plans.
  • Florida and Nebraska moved to the next phase of their respective reopening plans, while Louisiana and Texas loosened certain capacity restrictions.
  • The Governors of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York modified their tri-state COVID-19 travel quarantine list by removing California, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, and Ohio, and adding Puerto Rico. The tri-state list currently includes 30 states and territories.
  • On September 14, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania held that Pennsylvania’s business closure and stay-at-home orders violate the U.S. Constitution. The orders were previously suspended as each county in Pennsylvania is in the “green phase” of the State’s reopening plan. The ruling does not address Pennsylvania’s mask order or restaurant restrictions.  The Governor has indicated that the State plans to appeal the ruling.

For more information, please contact your Baker McKenzie attorney.

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Last week Governor Newsom signed three important bills into law:

  1. SB 1159: Expands Presumption of Workers’ Compensation Liability for COVID-19 Illness Claims

SB 1159 expands access to workers’ compensation by creating a rebuttable presumption of compensable injury for front line workers — health care workers, firefighters and peace officers. The presumption, while rebuttable, makes it easier for certain essential employees to receive workers’ compensation benefits if they contract COVID-19.   The law puts the onus on employers to rebut the presumption.

In addition to first responders and those in the health care field, the law also establishes a rebuttable presumption of workers’ compensation coverage when there is a workplace “outbreak” at the employee’s particular work location. (This presumption applies to employers with five or more employees.) An “outbreak” exists if within 14 calendar days one of the following occurs:

  • If the employer has 100 employees or fewer at a specific place of employment, at least four employees test positive for COVID-19.
  • If the employer has more than 100 employees at a specific place of employment, four percent of the number of employees who report to the place of employment test positive for COVID-19.
  • A specific place of employment is ordered to close by a local public health department, the State Department of Public Health, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or a school superintendent due to a risk of infection with COVID-19.

The law goes into effect immediately. SB 1159 is retroactive to July 6 and expires in 2023.

From the Los Angeles Times: There have been more than 40,436 claims filed so far this year by workers who said they contracted COVID-19 on the job, according to statistics from the Department of Industrial Relations, which oversees the workers’ compensation system. The workers’ comp rating bureau estimated that COVID-19 claims will cost employers and insurers around $2 billion.

  1. AB 685: New Notice and Reporting Requirements re COVID-19 Exposure

AB 685 will soon require employers to provide written notice to workers who may have been exposed to the virus and to inform local public health officials about positive cases.

As of January 1, 2021, the law will impose exhaustive notice requirements in the event of COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. This includes providing written notice, within one business day, to all employees and employers of subcontracted employees, who were at the worksite within the infectious period and who may have been exposed to the virus. AB 685 also enhances reporting requirements to local health authorities in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak in the worksite. Employers must notify local public health officials within 48 hours if the number of cases they have meets the state’s definition of an outbreak.

In addition, AB 685 grants the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health authority to shut down businesses it believes are exposing their workers to risk of infection to the point that they’re an imminent hazard to employees.

The law takes effect on January 1, 2021.

  1. SB 1383: Expands Unpaid Family Leave Requirements to Small Businesses

SB 1383 expands CFRA to require businesses with as few as five employees to provide 12 weeks of mandatory family leave per year. CFRA previously applied to employers with 50 or more employees, except for baby-bonding leave which applied to employers with 20 or more employees.)

SB 1383 also expands family care and medical leave to include leave: (1) to care for grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, domestic partners with a serious health condition (in addition to existing leave to care for a parent or spouse), and (2) when needed because of a qualifying exigency related to covered active duty or call to covered active duty of an employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the US Armed forces. SB 1383 also expands the definition of child to include the child of a domestic partner.

To be eligible for family leave, an employee must have at least 12 months of service with the employer and at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month period.

For assistance understanding your compliance obligations with respect to any of these new laws, please contact your Baker McKenzie employment attorney.

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It is customary to read of employees claiming retaliation against their employer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s recent decision in Bator v. District Council 4, Graphic Communications Conference represents the almost unheard of — employees claiming retaliation at the hands of their union instead.

In Bator, union members simply wanted fellow union members working for a competitor to make an equal pension plan contribution, since they would all be entitled to the same pension benefits. The request cost them dearly. The union saw it as an affront, and the union members’ attempt to rectify the inequities in contributions led to their expulsion from the union, as well as the loss of an early retirement option, disability pensions and a death benefit.

Click here to continue reading.

 

This article was originally published in Law 360.

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Organizations will continue to be held accountable for diversity, equality and inclusion post-COVID-19 and in connection with the Black Lives Matter movement. The next few video chats in our series will help in-house counsel and HR executives who are working to build a strong corporate culture of professionalism and respect do so in a way that is legally compliant and mitigates the risk of a backlash.

Please click below to watch the video chat:

How Employment Counsel Add Value to a Company’s Inclusion & Diversity Program

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The US Supreme Court significantly altered federal anti-discrimination law in its landmark June ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. This week’s video chat provides practical advice for employers following Bostock’s extension of anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ employees and its interaction with employees’ religious beliefs.

Please click below to watch the video chat:

Religious Beliefs in the Workplace Following the Supreme Court’s Bostock Decision