Stay Ahead of the Curve

IBM recently implemented a dramatic change, announcing that they are ending telecommuting at their company, which not only impacts the hundreds of thousands of employees who work there, but could have an impact on companies around the United States and the world. Overall, in the United States, about 25% of all employees work remotely all or at least most of the time.

It is everywhere. People you thought would never do it…they have done it. People you respected, want to respect, can no longer respect, are facing sexual harassment charges, and their reputations, businesses, and livelihoods are going up in flames. The world is changing because women are finding their collective voice to face their harassers and to change the workplace culture. It’s about time. But, what will this month’s headlines do to evoke change? And what role do you, as an employer, have in creating a non-hostile workplace?

On July 26, 2018, the California Supreme Court handed down a new ruling that the federal de-minimus rule has not been adopted under California wage and hour statutes and regulations. The federal de-minimus rule allows employers not to compensate employees for working a trivial amount of time (up to 10 minutes) each day without compensation if the time is administratively difficult to track. However, in this case, a Starbucks manager, alleged that he and other workers who performed store closing tasks were due wages for time spent working off the clock each shift, and the California court agreed.

California employers will soon need to provide employees with a minimum of five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave annually, up from the current requirement of three days or 24 hours..

In a recent update on January 9, 2024, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has introduced changes to COVID-19 regulations, some of which directly impact Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Standards that remain in effect until February 3, 2025.