Next week, a Texas federal court is expected to rule on whether the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rules will take effect as scheduled on Dec. 1, 2016. These new rules, which raise the minimum salary requirements for the Executive, Administrative and Professional exemptions to $913 per week ($47,476 annually) and set automatic future adjustments, have been challenged as unlawful by a number of states.

Earlier this year we notified you about the new expanded union persuader rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor this past spring. On Wednesday a Texas federal judge permanently blocked the DOL’s enforcement of these expansions to the persuader rule, finding that the rule is unlawful.

The Northern California Record interviewed Scali Law Firm founder and managing partner, Christian Scali, about this ruling from California's Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Their decision in Gonzales v. CarMax reversed a district court’s summary judgment in favor of CarMax Auto Superstores LLC and remanded with instructions to enter summary judgment for plaintiff Travis Gonzales. Gonzalez filed the lawsuit against CarMax under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law.

Since 2004, the Paid Family Leave program has provided monetary benefits to employees who have to temporarily miss work to care for a sick family member or to bond with a new child. This program is funded through employee payroll deductions into the State Disability Insurance fund. Earlier this year, the Governor signed into law a bill that will take effect January of 2018 to increase these benefits.

Final pay checks have special protections under California law, and therefore, employers must be very careful in calculating and issuing them. We often encounter situations in which an employer wishes to make deductions from an employee’s final paycheck for business losses, such as unreturned uniforms or equipment.

Most employers have had employees request time off for medical reasons at some point, either for planned medical procedures, or when the employee is out unexpectedly and notifies the employer that he/she cannot return to work for some period of time. However many employers are unaware of the specific response and notification requirements that are triggered once they are put on notice of an employee’s need for medical leave.

Do you run internet searches or check social media accounts on job applicants? For some employers the internet has become a tool to further screen prospective employees. However, employers must be careful in how they go about gathering such information because search engines and social media sites may expose the employer to information involving protected categories.

Part 2 of the article Selling Your Dealership: Organizational and Compliance Considerations, by Scali Law Firm attorneys Christian J. Scali, John P. Swenson and Gus N. Paras, was published in Automotive Buy Sell Report.

This article, by Daily Journal staff writer Eli Wolfe, discusses The Scali Law Firm's recent expansion into Sacramento with the hiring of Monica J. Baumann.