Stay Ahead of the Curve

Health care workers in California can take a breath of fresh air. The California Department of Public Health announced that the statewide Covid-19 related mask mandates will expire on April 3, 2023.

We are so honored to have been featured on the December 2022 edition of Valley Lawyer Magazine. Click here to read the the article, which begins on page 18.

Effective January 1, 2023, a new California statute, AB 1949, requires employers in California to give eligible employees up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave after the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner or parent-in-law.

new statute, AB 1041, expands the definition of “family member” for purposes of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and paid sick leave.

What is the change? The California Department of Public Health has issued an order changing its definition of “close contact” with regard to notifying potentially impacted employees of their exposure to a COVID-19 positive person in the workplace. Effective immediately, “close contact” is now defined as either:

As we advised in February 2022, Governor Newsom signed a bill, SB 114, requiring employers with 26 or more employees to provide up to 80 hours of Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“SPSL”) for specified COVID-19-related reasons.

Employers generally consider arbitration to be a more favorable forum for deciding disputes than litigating in court, though the costs to arbitrate are expensive. For one, juries who find against employers tend to be more generous in their awards than arbitrators. Second, arbitration clauses can include class action waivers, making it hard or impossible for employees to bring class action lawsuits. For these reasons, employers have increasingly required employees to sign mandatory arbitration clauses.

For the past year, the California Department of Public Health has mandated that all health care personnel in healthcare facilities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they document that they have religious or medical grounds for an exemption.