Beginning February 1, 2026, all California employers must provide each worker an annual, stand-alone notice summarizing key labor protections and constitutional rights. While commercially available “poster sets” of various workplace laws have been common, these incoming Labor Code sections aim to standardize and, in the face of growing Homeland Security aggression, expand the scope of such notices.

“Provide” means individual distribution (including to new hires and any authorized union rep). Employers may use any ordinary channel (personal service, email, text) reasonably expected to reach the employee within one business day. Management must retain compliance records for three years.

At minimum, the notice must describe: (1) workers’ compensation rights; (2) the right to receive notice of immigration-agency inspections and protection against unfair immigration-related practices; (3) the right to organize or engage in concerted activity; (4) employees’ constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement at work (e.g., freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment rights to due process and against self-incrimination); plus a list of enforcement agencies and any new legal developments the Labor Commissioner deems material.

The Labor Commissioner must post a template notice by Jan. 1, 2026, updated annually, and make it available in multiple languages (including English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi). The Labor Commissioner must publish employee and employer explainer videos by July 1, 2026. Employers may also share or link the videos when distributing the written notice.

If an employee opts in, the employer must notify the worker’s designated emergency contact if the employee is arrested or detained on the worksite; if the incident happens off-site during work hours or job duties, notice is required only if the employer has actual knowledge. Employers must give existing employees the chance to designate a contact by March 30, 2026, and collect this information from new hires after that.

The law has teeth. Management may not retaliate against an employee for exercising rights under the Act or assisting an investigation into violations. The Labor Commissioner can investigate, issue citations, and file civil actions, and public prosecutors may also enforce the Act. Civil penalties are up to $500 per employee per violation and, for violation of the arrest/detention notification provisions, up to $500 per employee per day, capped at $10,000 per employee. Courts may award injunctive relief, punitive damages, and reasonable attorneys’ fees. Local ordinances may provide greater protection.

Take-Aways:

New Labor Code sections 1550 – 1554 expand “know your rights” from a poster-wall concept into a recurring, trackable employer obligation tied to meaningful penalties. Best practices include:

• Calendar the deadlines: Pull the state template, available by Jan. 1, 2026; deliver your first annual notice by Feb. 1, 2026; and roll out emergency-contact designations to existing staff by March 30, 2026;
• Determine delivery method: Choose email, text, or personal service that reliably reaches employees within one business day; create a three-year recordkeeping process capturing send/provide dates;
• Include multilingual distribution: Plan to use the Labor Commissioner’s language versions and match the language you typically use for employment communications; and
• Update onboarding and policies: Add the notice and emergency-contact options to new-hire packets; train HR, managers and security on law-enforcement interactions and the non-retaliation rules.

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

See also:

• ICE Capades - Immigration Enforcement in the California Workplace (March 28, 2025)
• Stay in Your Lane, Driver’s License Discrimination (December 5, 2024)
• Hiring Authorized Workers – I-9 Forms Best Practices (July 5, 2024)

Tim Bowles
October 24, 2025

A well-planned Halloween celebration can boost morale and build teamwork. Without clear boundaries though, it can lead to uncomfortable or even risky situations under California’s strict workplace laws. Here’s how to keep it festive and compliant.

DOs:

• Do choose activities that align with comfort levels and workplace norms. Some companies thrive on costume contests; others prefer a casual luncheon or themed treat day.

• Do make participation voluntary. Not everyone celebrates Halloween. Allow employees to opt out without pressure or judgment.

• Do set clear costume guidelines in advance. Provide examples of what’s acceptable and what’s not, e.g., avoid costumes that are revealing, culturally insensitive, or otherwise inappropriate for work. Circulate these rules early.

• Do encourage appropriate fun. Team-building games, contests, and decorations can create engagement without crossing lines.

• Do step in when necessary. If someone’s behavior or costume violates policy, address it swiftly and respectfully -- even if that means sending them home to change.

DON’Ts:

• Don’t let management get too relaxed. Supervisors must model professional conduct.

• Don’t ignore teasing or discomfort. If an employee feels harassed or mocked, HR must respond promptly. “It’s just a joke” isn’t a defense under California’s harassment laws.

• Don’t allow employees to impersonate co-workers. Dressing up as a colleague, even in fun, can easily cross a line and lead to complaints or claims.

• Don’t serve alcohol. A single drink can lead to problems and potential liability. Keep it fun, safe, and professional.

Take-Aways:

With thoughtful planning and clear expectations, Halloween can be a workplace treat -- not a legal trick.

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

Cindy Bamforth
October 16, 2025

California is among the nation’s leaders in the range of characteristics protected from workplace discrimination and harassment, including:

• race
• color
• ancestry
• national origin
• religious creed and practice
• age (40 and over)
• mental and physical disabilities
• sex
• gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions)
• gender orientation
• gender identity
• gender expression
• medical condition
• genetic information
• reproductive health decision-making
• marital status, and
• military or veteran status

A business may not base an employment decision – e.g., hiring, wage rate, advancement opportunity, discipline or termination – on any of these categories. Rather, proper personnel management stems from worker training, ability and productivity.

An employer must also refrain from creating or condoning a work environment hostile to any of these classes, e.g., unwelcome sexual advances or racial slurs. Proper personnel management promotes worker respect, decorum and positive collaboration. See, e.g., the California Civil Rights Department’s Harassment Prevention Guide

While experienced management may well appreciate these legal hazards, an enterprise may yet find itself in litigation for retaliation, i.e., fumbling a discrimination or harassment complaint by failing to adequately document its investigation and resolution and the non-discriminatory, business-based reasons for any subsequent discipline or termination.

Take-Aways:

On report that any worker, supervisor, associated independent contractor, or, in some instances, a customer has engaged in such discrimination or harassment against an employee, management must investigate fully, keeping written reports of findings and any resulting – and appropriate – performance improvement plan and/or discipline for documented offenders. To help head off retaliation claims, managers must also take care to document the basis for any following adverse employment action against the complaining individual or anyone else.

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

See also:

• Staffing Agency Meltdown: Discrimination Settlement Shuts Down National Firm (April 12, 2024)
• Religious Ruling Favors Employees: Supreme Court Requires Accommodation Unless Substantial Cost Burden (September 1, 2023)
• Do Something: EEOC Sues Convenience Stores Owner for Condoning Sexual Harassment (March 4, 2022)

Tim Bowles
October 3, 2025

With two exceptions (New Zealand, 1894; Australia, 1896), no country had a minimum wage law until the 20th Century. Instead, employers paid supposed “just (or fair) wages” on the purported mutual consent of their workers.

Beginning in the late 1800s, religious and political groups attacked the “just wages” principle on the premise that the vast majority of employees lacked the bargaining power to negotiate a livable wage. In the United States and throughout the industrialized world, factory conditions were also notoriously harsh and workdays long. Not uncommonly at the time, American businesses hired woman and children for lower wages than men, notoriously under horrendous conditions. By 1910, two million children worked up to 20 hours a day in this country. Exhausted, many were killed or injured on the job.

Into the 1920s, American lawmakers sought to improve working conditions in their states. By 1925, fifteen states had passed minimum wage laws, including California at 16 cents an hour. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled several of the laws unconstitutional. (By 1929, every state had passed laws limiting child labor.)

President Roosevelt’s New Deal radically changed the employment landscape. The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established the first federal minimum wage at 25 cents an hour. The law also imposed overtime pay (“time and a half”) after a mandated 40-hour regular workweek. The Act also introduced the classification of “exempt (from overtime)” and “non-exempt” employees as well as outlawed many forms of child labor.

By 1943, the Labor Department under Francis Perkins had raised the federal minimum wage to 40 cents an hour. It hit $1.00/hour in 1955. Federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. Although each U.S. state has the power to set a higher minimum wage than the federal rate, none can set a lower one.

California first set the state minimum wage in 1916, 16 cents/hour. It now stands at $16.50/hour, with higher minimums for certain fast food and health care workers ($20.00/hour and $25.00/hour, respectively). Some 40 cities and counties continue to set higher local minimums.

This state’s wage regulation began with the 1913 creation of the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC). Over the decades, the agency has issued 17 industry-specific “wage orders” confirming minimums and setting other wage and working conditions.

Nations without a government-mandated minimum wage include Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Singapore, and Italy. These countries rely on strong collective bargaining between unions and employers to set wage standards for different industries, ensuring fair pay and worker protections without a statutory wage floor.

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

See also:

• California New Minimum Wages Rates Take effect in July (June 19, 2025)
  
• Lunch Time Tracking – Preventing a Recordkeeping Business Buster (August 8, 2025)
  
• Send Away Pay - Mastering “Reporting Time Pay” Compliance (August 7, 2025)

Tim Bowles
October 3, 2025

There are no shortcuts to workplace safety laws.

Following OSHA investigation from a worker’s fall through a skylight, the U.S. Department of Labor has assessed $752,846 in penalties against Florida contractor Elo Restoration LLC on ten violations, including no guardrails, safety nets and personal fall arrest systems, as well as no alternative fall protection measures for employees working six feet or more above ground.

Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer stated: “[W]e are committed to doing everything in our power to put the American worker and their safety first. These citations are a stark reminder that workplace safety is non-negotiable, and we will carry out our duty to hold employers accountable when they put lives at risk.”

Take-Aways:

Employers must take safety precautions seriously. Providing adequate safeguards against falls is step one for any above-ground work site.

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

See also:

• Safety Over Profits: Criminally Negligent Nitrogen Exposure Deaths (September 5, 2025)
• Pee-Uw! Cal/OSHA Fines Two Plumbing Companies for Safety Violations and Worker Injury (February 28, 2025)
• Not So Safeway?: Cal/OSHA Cites Supermart for Serious Hazardous Conditions in Warehouse (February 14, 2025)

Helena Kobrin
September 26, 2025

The Labor Commissioner’s Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE) has cited a Koreatown barbeque restaurant $680,000 for widespread wage theft violations.

The citation covers failure to pay 48 workers all wages owed, denial of legally required meal and rest breaks, and issuance of incomplete or inaccurate wage statements. Some employees were allegedly required to remain on the premises during lunch breaks, while others worked split shifts without receiving premium pay.

Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower noted: “Restaurant workers are often at risk of wage theft, especially when employers ignore laws around pay practices and required break periods. These citations reflect our continued efforts to hold employers accountable and ensure that workers receive the full wages and protections they are legally entitled to regardless of immigration status.”

Take-Aways:

Employers must follow all wage-and-hour laws, including meal and rest break requirements. Our firm offers proactive, confidential reviews of wage, hour, and documentation practices -- before a government agency initiates its own, less friendly, investigation.

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

See also:

• Hold-Up Hammered - Construction Sites Labor Code Violations Earn $2.3 Million in Citations (September 9, 2025)
• Lunch Time – Tracking – Preventing a Recordkeeping Business-Buster (August 8, 2025)
• End Away Pay – Mastering “Reporting Time Pay” Compliance (August 7, 2025)
• We Offer an Ounce of Prevention – Make a Wage Audit a Priority (February 15, 2024)

Cindy Bamforth
September 25, 2025

In Ron Chernow’s biography Mark Twain, I recently collided with a bit of ancestry. Mr. Chernow cites:

“The Concord (Mass) public library committee deserve well of the public by the action in banishing Mark Twain’s new book, ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ on the ground that it is trashy and vicious … The trouble with Mr. Clemens is that he has no reliable sense of propriety …”
Springfield Republican, March 17, 1885
Harsh review, from … a great, great grandfather!? Samuel Bowles III, the paper’s editor, was outspokenly conservative on literature’s role in shaping societal norms. Twain’s novel challenged his upper crust Northerner ideals, particularly the character of Huck, whose disregard for social conventions and authority struck him as dangerous. There was also the matter of Jim, the runaway slave, portrayed as a human being with dignity, intelligence and emotional depth.

By 1885, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments had abolished slavery and granted citizenship and voting rights to African Americans. Nice in theory. Yet, those involved in abolitionist movements, including my predecessor Bowles, were still grappling with the full implications of racial equality in practice.

Twain once observed, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” 140 years on, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- one of the most important works in American literature yet banned from many high school reading lists nationwide -- continues as a foremost fighter for the resolution of our enduring social and racial divisions.

Tim Bowles
September 19, 2025

January 15, 1958
Dear Chet:

Please excuse my delay in writing to you. I can't tell you how impressed we were and are with you and the things you stand for. It's a refreshing feeling listening to you and understanding what a real man stands for. In all my travels you are the only person in public life that I inquired about that received nothing but praise. I hope that whatever your ambitions are, they will be fulfilled.

I am certain you are aware of the success of the dinner, and the thing that impressed me most was that 80% of the people attending were Negroes. Tell Mrs. Bowles the Negro is beginning to take the lead. The dinner, in my opinion, was just an expression of this position. If we have the dinner this year, I hope you'll be able to attend. We will give you a notice in plenty of time this year.

This battle for civil rights is taking a definite turn. It's due to the Chester Bowleses we have around that are not afraid of what the future holds. If we can lick this fear, I am certain we can lick the problem of racial tension.

My best to your family. It's nice knowing people like you. It certainly gives us all a great deal of encouragement.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Jackie Robinson

Note, from Yale University Archives: Robinson had invited Bowles to a NAACP dinner honoring Branch Rickey and Duke Ellington on November 22, 1957, but the former Democratic governor of Connecticut sent his regrets. During his time in office, Bowles became the first governor to abolish segregation in the National Guard and earned a national reputation for his commitment to civil rights causes.

Tim Bowles
September 11, 2025

The Labor Commissioner has cited eight companies and three individuals $2.1 million in unpaid wages and damages and $165,000 interest for labor law violations on four Los Angeles construction projects.

The citation is for failing to pay overtime, paying some less than minimum wage and not providing paid sick leave or proper wage statements. It asserts workers were shortchanged on their pay by splitting it among several corporate entities as an intentional plan to avoid overtime and minimum wage. The average assessment is $18,900 between the 124 workers involved.

The citation can be appealed.

Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower stated that: “Employers can’t hide behind corporate shell games to cheat workers out of their hard-earned wages and entitled protections. This case is a clear example of how business entities were used to mislead workers and deny them the basic rights and legal protections they deserve under the law.

Take-Aways:

Employers must pay for all hours worked at the legally required rates and observe all other applicable labor laws. They proceed at their peril if they fail to do so.

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

See also:

• Pee-Uw! Cal/OSHA Fines Two Plumbing Companies for Safety Violations and Worker Injury (February 28, 2025)
• Bag-Holding Insurance: Preventing Contractor Loss for Sub Failure to Pay Employees (October 14, 2021)
• Rubber Checks and Unpaid Wages Rebound on Construction Company (February 22, 2019)

Helena Kobrin
September 9, 2025