Although a year-end Company “holiday” party is a nice opportunity for employers to show their appreciation to employees for their work over the course of the year, these events are a perennial HR headache as the legal risks abound if employers are not careful. Here are some tips for planning such events that apply any time of the year.

This year, Governor Newsom signed several bills into law that affect California employers, many of which take effect on January 1, 2020. Though most of these laws do not explicitly instruct employers to update their handbooks, some may invalidate provisions that are contained in existing employee handbooks, written policies or other documents provided to employees, such as pay plans. Here are a few things to keep in mind...

Automotive News turned to Scali Rasmussen attorney Monica Baumann for this article about the California Consumer Privacy Act. The most aggressive consumer-privacy law in the country, the CCPA goes into effect January 1, 2020.

The California Department of Industrial Relations announced the new minimum salary threshold for exempt computer professionals. Effective January 1, 2020, a computer professional must receive a salary of no less than $96,968.33 per year ($8,081.71 monthly) in order to qualify for the white collar exemption. This increase reflects the 2.5% increase in the California Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers over the minimum threshold from 2019.

Last month, the Court of Appeal issued a rare employer-friendly ruling regarding the calculation of meal and rest period premiums and regarding time rounding policies. In Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, plaintiff – a former bartender for the defendant – alleged that her employer improperly paid employees’ meal and rest period premiums at the base rate of compensation (i.e., the hourly wage), without including an additional amount based on incentive compensation such as nondiscretionary bonuses. Plaintiff reasoned that, because these additional amounts are included for the purpose of calculating overtime premiums, they should also be included for the purpose of calculating meal and rest period premiums, since the language in the statutes governing each of these payments is essentially identical.

The article Suit Targets Fingerprint Scans as Employee Time Trackers is highlighted in the Industry Voices section of WardsAuto. It discusses why businesses should be alert to employee-privacy issues, especially those involving biometric data, in light of the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA).

Scali Rasmussen partner Jeffrey Erdman was profiled in this month's Elite Boutique edition of National Law Journal's Trailblazers magazine. They praised his dedication "to working within the profession to create a more diverse bar and judiciary, open more minds and educate people." Erdman is a co-chair of Scali Rasmussen's Diversity Initiative.

The California Consumer Privacy Act has four major prongs intended to protect consumer’s privacy while also allowing consumers to use services provided by companies that share and sell data. In general terms, businesses will need to tell customers what type of data they collect, what they disclose or sell, and what purpose they use the data for. Businesses may also be required to erase data and, in more limited circumstances, allow customers to “opt out” of certain usages.

The California Consumer Privacy Act governs three different types of data usages: collection of data, disclosure of data, and sale of data. It is important for businesses, including auto dealers, to know not only what type of data they are collecting, but what use they intend to put it to, as their duties under the law depend on the data usage.

The California Consumer Privacy Act applies to “personal information” of a consumer, broadly defined as “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” Data covered includes, but is not limited to, traditional identifiers like name, postal address, email address, driver’s license numbers, and social security numbers. It also personal characteristics such as age, race, or national origin; commercial information such as records of purchases of goods or services; biometric data; Internet or other electronic network activity; geolocation data; professional or employment-related data; and education information. However, “publicly available information,” defined as information lawfully made available from federal, state or local government records.