Date & Time:

Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Registration fee: This webinar is free of charge.

REGISTER HERE

California has finalized its new employment law statutes that go into effect January 1, 2022, and so it's time once again for California employers to update their handbooks, policies, and practices to comply with new legal requirements. This webinar aims to give you a good head start. We'll cover:

• Leaves of Absence: Further expansion of the California Family Rights Act ("CFRA") to cover parents-in-law, and changes to the mediation pilot program for CFRA-related legal claims made against small employers.

• Severance/Release & Non-Disparagement Agreements: Agreement form updates required by California's new "Silenced No More Act," including a mandatory disclaimer to be added to non-disparagement clauses, and other prohibitions against agreements that would purport to ban current or former employees from disclosing information related to alleged harassment or discrimination.

• New Law Affecting Arbitration & Other Employee Agreements: Implications of a new California law providing that time deadlines "shall be reasonable" in any "contract of adhesion " (e.g., mandatory forms of employee agreements, which may include arbitration, commission, bonus, and other types of agreements); new law that employer failure to pay arbitration fees within 30 days results in waiver of the right to force arbitration.

• Wage & Hour Law Update: New heightened pay requirements for exempt computer software professionals and "white collar" exempt employees; new minimum wage requirements for non-exempt employees. Also, a California court ruling that found time card rounding practices non-compliant.

• COVID-19 Related Employment Laws: Review of federal and California state/local laws related to the pandemic, including with respect to safety, vaccination requirements, and paid time off for pandemic-related reasons.

• Non-California Employee Work Locations: The pandemic has caused a surge in the number of employees working remotely in non-California locations for California-based employers. Employers must keep track of and comply with differing legal requirements in each employee's work location. We'll review a sampling of important legal differences in a variety of popular other states where employees work remotely, and recommendations for how to keep track of differing legal requirements for a growing number of different employee work locations.

• 2021 Changes You Might Have Missed: Including expansion of CFRA leave requirements to apply to employers with 5+ employees, and a broader array of family members; a California Court of Appeal ruling that suggests difficult compliance standards should be applied to an "unlimited vacation" policy, and found the employer liable to pay unused vacation to former employees despite the employer's argument that it had an "unlimited" non-accrual policy.

Attendees will receive detailed PowerPoint slides and some additional written materials. Some time will also be reserved for answering attendee questions.

 Your presenters will be attorneys Ray Hixson, Brian Nagatani, and Mary Wang who are partners of the law firm Hixson Nagatani LLP. Hixson Nagatani LLP advises and represents employers in a wide range of employment law matters. The firm provides advice and counsel on proactive steps that employers should take to ensure compliance and minimize legal risks, including with respect to creating and updating personnel policies and practices, personnel-related forms, risk assessment of contemplated personnel actions, and managers' legal training. The firm also defends employers against actual and threatened employee claims, including claims made in state and federal courts, arbitration, and government agencies.

Continuing education credits: This program has been submitted to the HR Certification Institute and SHRM for review. This program qualifies for 1.0 hours of MCLE for California attorneys.

 IMPORTANT NOTE: WHEN YOU ENTER THE WEBINAR PROGRAM AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT, YOU WILL HAVE THE OPTION OF DIALING INTO A TELEPHONE CONFERENCE CALL OR USING AUDIO OVER YOUR COMPUTER. WE STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU DIAL INTO THE TELEPHONE CONFERENCE CALL, AND ENTER THE AUDIO PIN THAT WILL BE PROVIDED (I.E., INSTEAD OF USING AUDIO OVER YOUR COMPUTER). AUDIO IS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO HEAR OVER THE COMPUTER UNLESS YOU HAVE STAND-ALONE SPEAKERS ATTACHED TO YOUR COMPUTER OR USE HEADPHONES.

 If you have any questions, please contact Yahaira Ortiz, Office Manager:

yahaira@hnemploymentlaw.com; 408-486-9955. 

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