Governor Newsom recently signed AB2188, a bill barring employers from discriminating against job applicants or taking adverse action against employees for their use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace.

On July 27, 2022, the California Department of Finance determined that poor economic conditions necessitated expedited increases to the minimum wage. Based on changes to the consumer price index (CPI) from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022, the state’s minimum wage law bumped up minimum wage changes by one year.

Senator Earl Carter announced that he will be forming a bipartisan congressional caucus on vehicle data access. The caucus will be formed to address policy issues related to the access, use, and control of data generated by telematics programs and other vehicle monitoring systems. These programs use GPS and other systems to monitor drivers’ mileage and driving habits.

A new bill, Senate Bill (“SB”) 346, is before the Governor of California to further protect Californians’ privacy. California already passed laws to protect consumer data collected by businesses through the California Consumer Protection Act (“CCPA”). Now, SB 346 aims to protect consumers from collecting and sharing data from in-vehicle cameras.

Scali Rasmussen announced today that the firm has been named to the Los Angeles Business Journal's 2022 list of 'Most Admired Law Firms.' According to the publication, the list is comprised of outstanding law firms who are consciously working towards creating diverse, positive, and supportive environments to help drive the success of their attorneys.

California’s suitable seating rules require that employers “provide” seats to employees, per section 14 of the Wage Orders. However, they did not address what is required to show that seats were “provided.” The Court of Appeal recently decided this issue in Meda v. AutoZone, Inc., finding that there was a triable issue of fact as to whether seats were “provided” even if they were available, in part because the employee was not informed of their availability and the seats were not in his/her immediate vicinity.

AB 51 (Labor Code §432.6), which was supposed to be effective January 1, 2020, controls whether employers can require employees to waive their right to a court trial in FEHA and Labor Code cases. However, the Chamber of Commerce successfully obtained an injunction against AB 51, preventing the law from going into effect. This injunction was appealed. The Court of Appeal previously upheld the ban on mandatory arbitration but just this month, withdrew that decision and decided to rehear the case.

The California Family Rights Act (CFRA), which provides leave for employees for their own (or a family member’s) serious medical condition as well as baby bonding underwent significant changes in the last two years, making it different from FMLA leave in several ways.

Although portions of the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and regulations are not yet effective, California Attorney General’s (“AG”) office is not waiting to enforce. As it stands, the CCPA was modified by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) and is not in full effect until January 2023. However, the majority of the CCPA is currently in effect and Sephora is the first one to feel it.

National legislation aimed at reducing inflation is quickly working its way through Congress and is anticipated to hit President Biden's desk for signature as soon as the beginning of next week. Newsworthy in itself, this is especially important news for automobile dealerships because when it is signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (the "IRA") will cause immediate changes to the federal EV tax credit that will very likely impact vehicles already on your lot.