The Ninth Circuit has recently ruled that salary history cannot be used to justify a wage gap between men and women. Specifically, in Rizo v. Yovino, Case No. 16-15372 (9th Cir. April 8, 2018), the Ninth Circuit held that a “factor other than sex” under the federal Equal Pay Act must be “job-related” and the court therefore rejected an employer’s use of pre-employment salary history as a reason to pay females less than males performing the same work.(more…)
Employment Law
EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE: 2018 Brings Major Changes for California Employers
Several important new California employment laws took effect on January 1, 2018. These new laws will impact California employers from the pre-hiring stage through the entire employment relationship.
Restriction on Obtaining Salary History
Effective January 1, 2018, Assembly Bill 168 went into effect, which prohibits all California employers from:
- Directly or indirectly inquiring into a job applicant’s salary history, compensation or benefits
- Using such salary history information in determining whether to extend a job offer or in deciding what salary to offer the applicant.
Employment Law Update: What’s In Store for California Employers in 2017 and Beyond?
In 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed numerous laws that will affect California employers. Here are some of the new laws that employers need to be aware of:
Employers Are Not Required to State Hours Worked on Wage Statements of OT Exempt Employees
AB 2535 clarifies the wage statement requirements for tracking hours worked for exempt employees. The bill was passed following the federal court decision in Garnett v. ADT, LLC, which held that employers must include total hours worked on pay stubs for exempt outside sales employees and executives because they received bonuses and stock options. Under the new law, employers are not required to provide itemized wage statements to employees if the “employee’s compensation is solely based on salary and the employee is exempt from payment of overtime,” or the “employee is exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime under …any applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission” and specified statutes.(more…)
Update: 2014 Employment Laws
2014 will bring new laws for California employers, including an increase in the minimum wage, refinements to existing protections for employees, an expansion in the scope of discrimination protections, and additional protections to immigrant laborers.
AB 10 – Minimum Wage Increases: The state’s minimum wage will increase to $9 per hour on July 1, 2014, and $10 per hour on January 1, 2016. Employers should plan for these increases, both for their hourly employees who are paid minimum wage, and for exempt administrative, executive and professional employees who must be paid a salary equal to at least two times the minimum wage in order to qualify as exempt. Thus, the exempt minimum salary will jump to $37,440 on July 1, 2014, and $41,600 on January 1, 2016.(more…)