Employers can and should provide employees with clear written instructions on how to respond to customer requests for discounted, free or replacement goods or services and how to field vendor solicitation for the employer’s purchase of a service, equipment, or product.

Policy Drafting Tips:

• Explain the types of discounts or similar requests that an employee might receive from a company customer and the job title of the employee authorized to grant such requests;
• Describe industry or vendor solicitations and the job title of the employee authorized to commit the company to such obligations or liabilities; and
• Warn that anyone who incurs an unauthorized obligation or liability on the company’s behalf will be held personally responsible for doing so.

Take-Aways:

Implement and regularly review a comprehensive, clearly written handbook to include customer requests for discounts and vendor solicitation policies.

We publish this series to educate employers on best practices for a well-written handbook that assists applicants, employees, and management alike. To purchase our template handbook – which contains the above policy and much more – and accompanying forms or for more information, please contact Office Manager Aimee Rosales at 626.583.6600 or email her at officemgr@tbowleslaw.com.

See also:

• Laying Down the Law- Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2023 (November 18, 2022)
• Handbook Helper Episode 5 Golden Rules – Workplace Conduct Policy (July 8, 2022)
• If It Isn’t Written, Workplace Policy is Anyone’s Guess (November 1, 2018)

Cindy Bamforth
December 16, 2022

The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) prohibits businesses with five or more employees from denying an eligible worker’s request to take up to a total of 12 unpaid workweeks in any 12-month period for family care and medical leave.

Assembly Bill (AB) 1041, effective for 2023, expands the class of people for whom an employee may take leave to include a “designated person.” This is any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. Employee may identify that person at the time the employee requests the leave. The new law allows the employer to limit each employee to one designated person per 12-month period.

AB 1041 also widens the reach of this state’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014. That act generally entitles an employee to no less than 24 hours of paid sick leave annually:

• after 30 or more days of work for a business within a year; and
• after she/he has completed an 89-day employment period for that business. The worker may use the time for diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or preventive care for, that individual or a family member

Beyond the various blood, marriage and other relationships specifically defined in this law, “family member” can now include a designated person “identified by the employee at the time the employee requests paid sick [time].” Here too the employer may limit each employee to one designated person per 12-month period.

Take-Aways:

Effective 2023, employers should revise and distribute the appropriate workplace policies to include these broader definitions.

See also:

• Laying Down the Law; Workplace Policy and Forms for 2023 (November 18, 2022)
• What’s New in 2023: Covering Employment Legal Essentials and New Workplace Laws (November 15, 2022)
• Covid Benefits Resurgence – State Extends COVID -19 Sick Pay and Employer Relief to December 31 (October 7, 2022)
• What’s New in 2021: Workplace Time Outs – California’s Expanded Family and Medical Leave Significantly Impacts Small Business (November 12, 2020)
• Mandatory Paid Sick Leave For California Employees – Law Goes into Effect July 1, 2015 (September 15, 2014)

Tim Bowles
December 9, 2022

January 1, 2023, the California state minimum wage will be $15.50 per hour for all employers, regardless of size.

The California cities and counties below have local ordinances with higher rates than the state.  Employers must review and comply with the rules for any locality in which their employees work. The UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education publishes regular updates.

Covered employers must also conspicuously post an updated wage notice/bulletin for each applicable jurisdiction. The above city/county link(s) provide respective current notices.
See also:

• Laying Down The Law Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms For 2023 (November 18, 2022)
• What’s New In 2023 – Covering Employment Legal Essentials and New Workplace Laws (November 15, 2022)
• California Mid-Year Minimum Wage Rate Increases (June 24, 2022)

Helena Kobrin
Daniska Coronado
December 7, 2022

California law requires employers to reimburse employees for all necessary work-related expenses. Courts broadly interpret this law to fully protect workers from being forced to cover their employers’ operating costs.

At a minimum, an expense reimbursement policy should specify that the company will repay its employees for all reasonable and necessary business-related expenses, such as:

• Purchase of office supplies, tools, or equipment;
• Travel, lodging, and meal expenses incurred on business trips; and
• The reasonable percentage of an employee’s personal cell phone and internet usage plans.

If an employer pays a standard or flat reimbursement rate for any expenses, the policy should instruct the employee how to request additional reimbursement if warranted.

An expense reimbursement policy should never absolve a company from reimbursing an employee who failed to obtain prior approval for payment of necessary job-related expenses. A company can require pre-approval for foreseeable requests, but the consequence for violation should be possible disciplinary action rather than non-payment of the cost incurred.

Take-Aways:

Implement and regularly review a comprehensive, clearly written handbook to include a business expense reimbursement policy.

We publish this series to educate employers on best practices for a well-written handbook that assists applicants, employees, and management alike. To purchase our template handbook – which contains the above policy and much more – and accompanying forms or for more information, please contact Office Manager Aimee Rosales at 626.583.6600 or email her at officemgr@tbowleslaw.com.

See also:

• Laying Down the Law – Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2023 (November 18, 2022)
• Find Out What’s New in 2023 – Don’t Wait Save The Date. Friday, January 27, 2023, Friday, February 17, 2023 Annual Seminar for Employers Covering Employment Legal Essentials and New Workplace Laws (October 26, 2022)
• Handbook Helper Episode 13: Company Devices: Hands On, Hands Off- An Electronic Systems Policy (October 14, 2022)

Cindy Bamforth
December 2, 2022

Assembly Bill (AB) 1949, effective January 1, 2023, requires private employers of five or more people and all public employers to provide five days of bereavement leave to employees upon the death of a child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner, or parent-in-law.

The leave days must be taken within three months of the death but need not be consecutive. Unless the employer has a policy to the contrary, the leave may be unpaid, but employees may use any paid sick leave, vacation, compensatory time off, or personal leave to which they are entitled.

An employer may request documentation of the death within 30 days of the first day of leave, but may not discriminate against the employee or take adverse employment actions either because the employee takes such leave or provides information or testimony about their own bereavement leave or that of another.

Employees covered by collective bargaining agreements (CBA) that provide equivalent bereavement leave are not covered by this law, so long as the CBA provides for overtime wages, a regular hourly rate of at least 130% of minimum wage and meets other standards for wages, hours of work, and working conditions.

If an employee requests bereavement leave, the employer must keep the request confidential other than from internal personnel or counsel if necessary or as required by law.

Take-Aways:

Employers should include bereavement leave as one of the items in their annual policy review and update as needed.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• Laying Down the Law: Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2023 (November 18, 2022)

• What’s New in 2023: Covering Employment Legal Essentials and New Workplace Laws (November 15, 2022)

Helena Kobrin
December 1, 2022

Starting with well-drafted policy, employers should clearly define acceptable and unacceptable social media usage to ensure employees do not impermissibly disclose confidential company information, infringe third party intellectual property rights, or harass and discriminate against others.

To comply with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), such policies should avoid potentially discouraging employees from discussing terms and conditions of their employment with coworkers or others.

A social media policy should:

• Require adherence to relevant company policies concerning harassment, standards of conduct, confidentiality, trade secrets, and financial disclosures;
• Caution against using malicious, obscene, or defamatory content;
• Prohibit posting rumors or other knowingly false information;
• Forbid managers from accessing or requesting access to subordinates’ restricted social media pages without a valid business reason;
• Prohibit employees from representing themselves as company spokespersons without proper company consent;
• Instruct authorized employees on how to access and manage company-owned social media accounts; and
• Include an NLRA-related statement regarding protected activities.

Take-Aways:

Implement and regularly review a comprehensive, clearly written handbook to include an updated social media policy.

We publish this series to educate employers on best practices for a well-written handbook that assists applicants, employees, and management alike. To purchase our template handbook – which contains the above policy and much more – and accompanying forms or for more information, please contact Office Manager Aimee Rosales at 626.583.6600 or email her at officemgr@tbowleslaw.com.

See also:

• Laying Down the Law – Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2023 (November 18, 2022)
• Handbook Helper Episode 13: Company Devices: Hand On, Hands Off- An Electronic Systems Policy (October 14, 2022)
• Handbook Helper Episode 12: Prying Eyes – Employee Privacy Policy (September 30, 2022)
• Handbook Helper Episode 5: Golden Rules – Workplace Conduct Policy (July 8, 2022)

Cindy Bamforth
November 25, 2022

Currently, Labor Code 432.3 requires employers to provide the pay scale, i.e., the range of hourly or salary rates, to an applicant if requested after an initial interview.

SB 1162, effective January 1, 2023, mandates a greater level of disclosures:

• All California employers must provide pay rate information to applicants upon request even before an interview and to employees at any time.
• California employers with 15 or more employees must include pay scales in their own job listings or provide pay scale rates to third parties who post job listings for the employer and are required to include those pay rates.
• All California employers must maintain records of job titles and wage rate histories for all employees while employed and for three years after, subject to inspection by the Labor Commissioner. Failing to do so creates a rebuttable presumption in favor of an employee’s claim.

Penalties for violations of this section range from $100 to $10,000 depending on circumstances, but first-time offenders that can prove they have fixed their job postings get a pass on any penalties.

If an employer has 100 or more employees, it must submit a pay data report by the second Wednesday of every May starting in 2023 (moved from the prior annual reporting date of March). This report must include:

• the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in 10 job categories;
• how many employees by those same categories fall into various “pay bands” used by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Occupational Employment Statistics survey;
• the mean and median hourly rate for each job category broken down by race, ethnicity, and sex; and
• other, related data.

For non-compliance with these latter requirements, first time offenders can be penalized $100 per employee and subsequent offenses at $200 per employee.

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement is expected to issue FAQs, which hopefully will answer many unanswered questions before the January 1 implementation date.

Take-Aways:

Employers need to prepare for the implementation of this statute in less than two months. Covered employers should review job listings and update or replace them to include pay scales in those listings. All employers should review the various pay rates they have for a particular job against the race, ethnicity, sex, and other protected categories to see if there are unwarranted disparities in pay that should be addressed.

Employers should look to a knowledgeable employment attorney for assistance in implementing these new laws.

For further information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

See also:

• What’s New In 2023 – Computer Software Professionals Overtime Exemption Rates (November 4, 2022)
• Find Out What’s New In 2023 (October 26, 2022)

Helena Kobrin
November 11, 2022

For the fourth year running, Law Offices of Timothy Bowles is Best of Pasadena's best law firm. Thanks to everyone who voted and supported us. We are pleased to continue to provide experienced and trustworthy guidance to business navigating the difficulties of California employment law.

Please be sure to contact us as your need arises.

Tim, Cindy, Helena and staff
November 10, 2022

California Labor Code section 515.5 exempts certain computer software professionals from overtime compensation upon receipt of specified minimum compensation.

California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has announced its rate increase for this minimum, effective January 1, 2023, to $53.80, up from $50.00. Alternatively, an otherwise qualified salaried employee is eligible on minimum annual compensation of $112,065.20, up from $104,149.81, payable at least once monthly at no less than $9,338.78.

An exempt computer professional must also meet each of the Labor Code section 515.5 high-level skills and duties criteria. Among these, the employee must be “primarily engaged” (more than 50% of the time) in intellectual or creative work requiring the exercise of discretion and independent judgment such as:

• applying systems analysis to determine “functional specifications” of hardware, software or systems
• designing computer systems or programs; and/or
• documenting, testing, creating or modifying computer programs related to computer systems software or hardware design

Although these workers need not be paid overtime premium under California law, employers should further ensure they meet the comparable federal law exemption, which includes a less restrictive definition of “primary” duty, a lower hourly/salaried threshold, and similar skills and duties tests.

Such computer professionals may also qualify for the administrative, executive or “learned profession” exemptions from overtime. Each category possesses its own distinct qualifications.

For more information, please contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

Cindy Bamforth
November 4, 2022