Articles, news & legal alerts

Read the latest news from Scali Rasmussen, including legal alerts and event listings.

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President Biden is expected to enact the Speak Out Act in the near future, which was passed by Congress on November 16, 2022, to combat sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. The act will apply to sexual assault or harassment claims brought by an employee under state, federal, or tribal law on and after its effective date. Under the act, an employer will be prohibited from enforcing a nondisclosure or nondisparagement provision contained in an employment agreement, nondisclosure agreement, or other agreement previously signed by an employee to silence that employee’s sexual assault or harassment allegations, in or outside of court.

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Since 2012, California has allowed neutral time rounding policies for employee timekeeping, as long as the policy was facially neutral and did not deprive employees of compensation for time worked, under the Court of Appeal case: See’s Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court. Even rounding to the quarter of an hour had been found to be permissible in the past. However, in the age of precision, California courts have chipped away at this practice.

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In a November 23, 2022, published decision, DeLeon v. Juanita’s Foods, B315394, the Second Appellate District upheld a Los Angeles Superior Court’s strict interpretation of the California legislature’s 2019 amendments to the California Arbitration Act that a failure by a drafting party to pay arbitration fees timely constitutes a material breach of the arbitration agreement and allows the employee-claimant to (among other things) withdraw from arbitration and pursue their claim in court. This applied not just to the initial filing fee, but also subsequent invoices.

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In California, another year means another set of new employment laws that impose burdens on employers. The 2022 legislative session was no exception, with new laws passed and signed that address employment-related pay disclosure requirements on job postings, required bereavement leave, extended COVID-related leave, and family medical leave, to name a few areas. The good news for California employers is that none of the new laws make revolutionary changes to employee rights or employer responsibilities, but employers nonetheless need to understand these changes and adjust their practices to avoid potential liability in the future. Some laws passed do not go into effect for another year or two, allowing additional time for compliance (such as the cannabis anti-discrimination law).

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The primary changes this year address and limit the availability of GAP waivers- for service members, and limiting the cost of GAP as well as the loan-to-value ratio for applicable vehicles. The legislature also passed a number of bills that continue to move the state towards a zero-carbon transportation sector, including requiring 35% of new car sales to be ZEVs (zero-emission) by 2026, which may not be a feasible goal. Dealers will need to keep an eye on these issues moving forward as it will affect inventory and demand.

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The 2022 legislative session focused on various forms of debt and income relief available to small and family-owned businesses. While all of these forms of relief may not apply to every business, they are worth your attention since the economic crunch may worsen and it would be helpful to be aware of these, or other new forms of relief.

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When the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) amended the Safeguards Rule (16 CFR Part 314) in 2021, some of the new provisions were set to become effective December 9, 2022 (16 CFR 314.5). In light of economic disturbances from the COVID-19 pandemic that exacerbated supply chain issues and caused delays in the availability of information security systems, as well as a shortage of qualified information security workers to implement such systems, the FTC has announced they will extend this deadline until June 9, 2023.

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