The Fair Employment and Housing Council’s new regulations regarding national origin discrimination have taken effect on July 1, 2018. The regulations augment the existing Fair Employment and Housing Act regulations with clarification on numerous concepts, including the definition of “national origin” and issues related to language, height/weight characteristics, immigration status, and more.

With the temperatures soaring, employers should take a refresher on their obligations to employees, especially those who work outdoors. Cal-OSHA has specific heat illness regulations in place that require training, employee monitoring, provision of facilities/supplies and supervisorial action.

"As Scali Rasmussen expands from its roots as a boutique automotive law firm to a diverse and more broadly focused litigation firm, there is no greater testament to the strength of our team and our reputation than when you can bring aboard someone like Jeffrey," said firm Founder and Partner Christian Scali.

The long-awaited decision in Janus v. AFSCME was the second within a month in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against unions, and both decisions will put employers in a strong position at the bargaining table. But if employers appear too eager to exploit the moment, they risk facing a backlash.

With deep regret, Scali Rasmussen gives its condolences to the McKenna family. Mike McKenna was a dear friend, valued colleague and pioneer for California and Hawaii dealers. Mike leaves a legacy of dealerships and he will be greatly missed. Services will be held this Friday June 22, 2018 at 9 a.m. in Kailua, Hawaii at St. Anthony’s Church.

Dealerships are considered “public accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act and therefore are required to make reasonable modifications to allow disabled individuals the ability to access dealership facilities and services. This is not news if you’ve hired ADA consultants or dealt with an ADA lawsuit. However, while accommodations such as ramps, parking spaces and lowered retail counters may seem obvious (and call us if they do not!), new case law should put you on notice of another kind of accommodation customers may ask you to make: installing hand controls to allow disabled customers to test-drive a vehicle.

We all know the importance of tracking and compensating non-exempt employees for all time that they spend working. When an employee must travel for work, is ALL time spent on the road compensable? Here are the basics as pertains to non-exempt employees.

Although the California hourly minimum wage does not increase again until the beginning of next year, there are a number of local minimum wage adjustments effective July 1, 2018 that cover employees who perform work within those areas.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a 3-for-1 opinion protecting class action waivers in employee arbitration agreements. This decision is consistent with the California Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling, in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, which also upheld the enforceability of class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements, but carved out an exception for actions brought under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).

A California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would expand harassment-prevention training requirements—and the bill has both pros and cons for employers, according to experts.