The San Diego Business Journal recognizes the top 10 dynamic women business leaders who have contributed significantly to San Diego’s workplaces and communities.

WTK Managing Partner Carolina Bravo-Karimi has been named a finalist in the "Mentorship Award" category as part of the California Legal Awards put on by The Recorder.

WTK was recognized by the San Diego Business Journal as a finalist for its 2022 Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Award honoring individuals and organizations for outstanding work in the nonprofit sphere. WTK was named a winner of this award in 2021.

The American Lawyer recognizes professionals in the West who have moved the needle in the legal industry. 

In case you missed it: WTK's updated comprehensive checklist for 2023 will assist you in achieving compliance with all the latest legal changes. This much anticipated checklist contains the newest employment updates (including the updates outlined below) so you can make sure your company remains complaint in the new year. 

The California legislature recently passed, and the Governor signed, SB 523, the “Contraceptive Equity Act,” which will expand the list of protected characteristics under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to include “reproductive health decisionmaking,” effective January 1, 2023.  “Reproductive health decisionmaking is defined to include, but not be limited to, “a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, product, or medical service for reproductive health.”  The law makes it an unlawful employment practice to discriminate or engage in harassment on the basis of a person’s reproductive health decisionmaking. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (whose geographic scope covers the state of California) issued an opinion on October 24, 2022 finding that employees may be entitled to pay for the time they spend logging onto computers before they can open a computer-based timekeeping application.  The court joined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in finding this time might be compensable under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).  While both decisions were fact-specific and employers may still have defenses under certain circumstances, this new decision suggests that employers who use computer-based timekeeping applications should consider examining their own clock-in and -out practices and compensation practices and assess whether to make any changes to mitigate possible risk.

Traditionally, the focus in California at the end of the legislative session is on the numerous new laws that were actually enacted and impose new compliance obligations.  This year, however, the biggest compliance challenge may flow from something the California legislature failed to do.  Specifically, the California legislature ended this year’s session without extending employers’ partial exemption from certain requirements under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), California’s consumer privacy law. 

Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 1162, creating new obligations for California employers related to pay scales and reporting of pay data.  This law reflects the California Legislature’s recent focus on pay equity concerns and updates several recently enacted laws regarding pay scales and pay data reporting.

As we approach the end of the year, it is time for California employers to begin taking steps to implement a number of new employment-related laws, regulations, and legal rules. 

The 2022 California Legislative session ended on September 30, 2022, when the deadline for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto pending bills expired.  Overall, this session resulted in fewer new employment laws of widespread application than in recent years, but there are still some significant changes on the way, including bereavement leave, new pay scale posting requirements, a further extension of COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave and application of consumer privacy laws to employee information collected by employers.  

The deadline for the California Legislature to pass bills expired on August 31, 2022, and as expected, a number of employment-related bills were forwarded to Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto.  

Notably, Governor Newsom has already signed into law several bills, including a first in the nation-type law creating a fast food industry council with the ability to set “minimum standards,” including a minimum wage up to $22 per hour and additional standards for safety, hours, and working conditions (AB 257).

Summer recess has arrived, at least for students and the California Legislature.  Before heading out on recess until August 1, 2022, the California Legislature continued working on many employment bills, providing an increasingly clear picture of the bills likely to make it to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. 

The California Legislature has been quite active as its summer recess approaches, including as the key deadline for bills to pass the first legislative chamber has now expired.  Not surprisingly, many bills were unable to surmount this key hurdle and are presumably stalled for this year, including bills that would have amended the FEHA to preclude “family responsibility” discrimination (AB 2182), required larger employers to submit annual reports detailing work-related statistics (AB 2095), required employers to develop worker biometric policies (SB 1189), and encouraged employers to provide student loan repayment assistance for employees (AB 1729).

Last December, Riot Games agreed to pay $100 million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit that was brought, in part, by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The gaming company was accused of tolerating a ‘bro culture’ in which women were subjected to sexual harassment, pay inequities and gender discrimination, as well as a constant barrage of obnoxious and toxic behavior.

As best as I can recall, it was over three decades ago that I first heard the phrase "sexual harassment." It was October 1991, and along with millions of Americans I watched the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court appointee Clarence Thomas with amazement as an all-male panel of senators interrogated then-35-year-old law school professor Anita HIll about porn stars and pubic hair on a Coke can, among other previously unthinkable subjects for a Senate committee hearing.