California Labor Management QA
Email: sfo4ww@evershinecpa.com
or
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Tel: +1-510-996-2685
LRC – United States – California Labor Regulations
LRC-CA-20.10
What must be included in the contents of a labor contract in United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
There are no minimum requirements for an employment contract.
There is no standard form because they are purely private arrangements.
States – California
Generally, the payment term, Employment term, and termination provisions are required.
An employment contract should also state if hire a contractor or an “at-will” employee.
An at-will employment contract allows an employer to terminate an employee for any reason (without cause) while also allowing an employee to quit at any time.
LRC-CA-20.11
Do the United States – California arrange labor contracts in the fixed terms?
What should be the length of the labor contract in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
No legal provision governs fixed or unlimited term contracts.
Generally, where no definite period of employment is stated or proved, the employment is presumed to be at-will, meaning that either party may terminate the employment at will, without liability for breach of contract.
The majority of employees in the United State are employed on an “at-will” basis.
Yes. The USA does not limit the duration of a fixed-term employment contract.
States – California
Employment contracts can be arranged in fixed terms.
The length of contract is not regulated, usually would last between 1 and 3 years.
LRC-CA-20.20
What is the minimum age for hiring new employees in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
Generally, the FLSA sets 14 years old as the minimum age for employment and limits the number of hours worked by minors under the age of 16.
States – California
- Minors can’t be employed or permitted to work in any occupation that is declared, in 29 C.F.R. § 570.50 et seq., to be particularly hazardous for the employment of minors age 16 to 18 or detrimental to their health or well-being.
- Minors under age 18 can’t be hired or employed to engage in any obscene, indecent, or immoral purpose, exhibition, or practice.
- Minors under age 16 can’t be hired or employed to engage in any business, exhibition, or vocation that is harmful or dangerous to them.
- Minors age 14 to 15 can be employed in occupations that aren’t prohibited by Cal. Lab. Code § 1285 et seq., including those listed in Cal. Lab. Code § 1294.3.
LRC-CA-20.40
Is it a requirement for employers in the United States – California to conduct a pre-employment background check?
Evershine RD:
Federal
Background check is common in United States.
When running the background checks, you must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces the FCRA.
The FCRA requires employers to obtain permission from candidates to conduct a background check in writing.
To verify employment eligibility, employers and employees must complete the appropriate sections of Form I-9.
As part of the verification process, employers must receive documents from employees that establish their identity and employment eligibility as listed on Form I-9.
States – California
Employers generally can’t use the federal E-Verify system to check the work authorization status of existing employees and applicants who haven’t received a job offer.
During the federal Form I-9 process, employers can’t request more or different documents than required.
Employers can’t discriminate against employees and applicants because they hold or present a California driver’s license that displays a “Federal Limits Apply” notice.
LRC-CA-20.50
Is the Non-Competition indemnity clause in labor contract in the United States – California has legal effect?
Evershine RD:
Federal
A covenant not to compete will be enforced only if it restricts the employee’s ability to compete no more than is reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate interests.
Although covenants not to compete are generally disfavored by the courts, they will be enforced in most states if the covenant not to compete is designed to “protect against … ‘unfair and illegal’ conduct” on the part of the former employee and not simply “to insulate the employer from competition.”
States – California
California has a noncompetition agreements law that applies generally to private employers.
According to Cal. Lab. Code §§ 19, 21, 59, 79, 95, 98.8, 244, The California Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Labor Standards Enforcement administers and enforces the noncompetition agreement provisions.
Contract provisions generally are void if they restrain anyone from engaging in any lawful profession, trade, or business.
Employers can’t require employees or applicants to agree in writing to any terms or conditions that are prohibited by law; therefore, most noncompetition agreements are unenforceable.
LRC-CA-40.05
What are the regulations on Gender Discrimination in employment specifically for female workers in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
An employment policy or practice that applies to everyone, regardless of sex, can be illegal if it has a negative impact on the employment of people of a certain sex and is not job-related or necessary to the operation of the business.
Sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes discrimination “on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” under the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA).
The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.
States – California
According to Fair employment practices law: Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 12940, 12964.5; Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, § 11034.
Employers can’t discriminate in compensation based on gender status unless a permissible defense applies.
Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent and promptly correct unlawful discrimination.
Employers can’t aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce unlawful discriminatory acts or try to do so.
LRC-CA-50.10
Can the employer in the United States – California collect, or process data transmitted by employees over the internet?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The Stored Communications Act (“SCA”) generally prohibits accessing the online account of another without that individual’s consent.
You are permitted to monitor your employees’ email and internet use; however, before you conduct electronic monitoring, you should be sure to comply with applicable federal and state laws.
To reduce the risk that you will be sued by your employees because you monitor their email and internet use, you should have an electronic communications policy in place at all your worksites.
The policy should clearly specify employees’ obligations when using your electronic communications systems, including desktop or laptop computers, personal digital assistants, pagers, and cell phones.
Requiring your employees to sign acknowledgments that they have read, understood, and agree to comply with the policy is another step you can take to reduce the risk of litigation.
You also should conduct training sessions for your employees to review the electronic communications policy and discuss hypothetical situations that could arise for employees at your company.
States – California
According to Cal. Lab. Code § 980, California’s social media provisions don’t prohibit employers from engaging in certain types of electronic monitoring.
LRC-CA-60.10
What are the regulations on working hours in United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
There is no general maximum number of hours workers can be allowed to work under federal law.
Workers in several types of industries, such as long-haul freight truck drivers, have daily hour restrictions set for safety purposes.
In many organizations, employees are required to work 40 hours per week, with workdays beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m.
States – California
8 hours a day or 40 hours a week.
Evershine RD:
Federal
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act establishes overtime requirements that apply to covered employers.
Generally, employers that are subject to the FLSA must ensure that nonexempt employees receive additional overtime wages for any hours that nonexempt employees work more than 40 hours per workweek.
Overtime rate equals regular rate plus one-half regular rate (1.5 times).
Under the FLSA, employers must pay nonexempt employees one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all time worked more than 40 hours during any workweek, referred to as overtime pay.
States – California
Employees who work more than 8 hours a day, more than 40 hours a week, or for 7 consecutive days are entitled to overtime pay.
Overtime pay is 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours worked more than 8 per day.
Employees who work more than 12 hours a day must be paid double their regular rates of pay.
LRC-CA-60.50
Is it common to pay the 13th month’s salary in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The 13th month’s salary is not mandatory in the United States.
States – California
The 13th month’s salary is not mandatory.
LRC-CA-70.10
What are the regulations on general leave policy for employee in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
There is no federal requirement to provide paid leave to workers.
In practice, 1 week per year during the first few years to 3 weeks or more for long-serving employees.
States – California
The annual leave program provides eligible employees a combined pool of “annual leave” credits instead of separate vacation and sick leave credits.
Annual leave covers the same kinds of absences that otherwise would be covered by vacation or sick leave.
If you’ve always accrued separate vacation/sick leave, you may switch to annual leave anytime.
If you decide later you want to switch back to vacation/sick leave, you can but only after you’ve been on annual leave at least 24 months.
Evershine RD:
Federal
The U.S. has 11 national holidays.
- Jan. 1: New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King’s Birthday (the third Monday in January)
- George Washington’s Birthday (the third Monday in February)
- Memorial Day (the last Monday in May)
- June 19: Juneteenth
- July 4: Independence Day
- Labor Day (the first Monday in September)
- Columbus Day (the second Monday in October)
- Nov. 11: Veterans Day
- Thanksgiving Day (the third Thursday in November)
- Dec. 25: Christmas Day
No overtime pay is required if work on holidays and weekends falls within regular work schedule and total hours do not exceed 40 in workweek.
Overtime rate equals regular rate plus one-half regular rate (1.5 times).
States – California
- March 31 Cesar Chavez Day
There is nothing in state law that mandates an employer pay an employee a special premium for work performed on holidays, Saturdays, or Sundays, other than the overtime premium required for work more than 8 hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek.
LRC-CA-70.30
What is the maternity leave policy for female employees in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies to companies with 50 or more employees.
These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:
- For the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee
- For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care
- To care for an immediate family member (i.e., spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition or
- To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.
Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months.
States – California
Employers must allow eligible employees to take family care and medical leave:
- for the birth of their child
- for the placement of a child with them for adoption or foster care
- to care for their child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner who has a serious health condition
For their own serious health condition that prevents them from working at all.
Employers must allow eligible employees to take up to 12 workweeks of family care and medical leave in a 12-month period, upon their request.
LRC-CA-70.40
What is the paternity leave policy for male employees in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
FMLA applies to companies with 50 or more employees.
These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for a newborn, newly adopted child, or an ill family member.
Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months.
States – California
Refer to LRC-CA-70.30 for family care and medical leave.
LRC-CA-70.50
What are the provisions on sick leave, bereavement leave and personal leave for employees in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
Sick Leave
Federal law does not require sick leave.
FMLA applies to companies with 50 or more employees.
A federally mandated unpaid leave program, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), requires employers to allow workers to take up to 12 weeks off generally to deal with certain personal qualified medical issues or qualified medical conditions of defined family members.
Bereavement Leave
Federal law does not require funeral leave.
These benefits are generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee.
Most employers grant 3 to 5 days of bereavement leave per occurrence.
Some employers grant longer periods of leave for immediate family members—such as a parents, spouses, children, or siblings—and shorter periods of leave for more distant relatives.
Personal Leave
Federal law does not require personal leave.
These benefits are generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee.
States – California
Sick Leave
Employers must provide paid sick leave to employees for their own or a family member’s existing health condition.
Employees are eligible for paid sick leave if they work in California for the same employer for at least 30 days within a year after starting employment.
Employees include part-time, per diem, and temporary employees.
Employees accrue at least 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
Accrual occurs on a regular basis so that employees accrue at least 24 hours of paid sick leave or paid-time-off leave by their 120th calendar day of employment, each calendar year, or each 12-month period.
Employers provide employees with at least 24 hours or 3 days of paid sick leave that they can use after their 120th calendar day of employment.
New employees must wait until their 90th day of employment to start using the leave.
Bereavement Leave
There is no mandatory for employer to provide employees for bereavement leave.
Earned Paid Leave
The Earned Paid Leave requires employers to provide paid leave through a method where employees earn and use the leave for permitted reasons.
Evershine RD:
Federal
United States law provides for retirement benefits and subsidized health insurance under federal Social Security and Medicare programs.
These federal programs provide benefits for retirees, the disabled, and children of deceased workers.
Social Security benefits include old-age, survivors, and disability insurance. Medicare provides hospital insurance benefits.
States – California
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal program that provides monthly payments to people who have limited income and few resources.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is for people who are unable to work because of physical or mental reasons.
California adds money to the federal payment.
The single payment you get at the beginning of each month includes both federal SSI payment and your supplement from California.
If you get SSI, you can usually get medical assistance (Medi-Cal) automatically.
Employers are required to have a retirement plan for workers, whether through 401(k) or through the state-run CalSavers program.
LRC-CA-70.70
What are the regulations on Workers’ Compensation for employee in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
All employees are covered by employer’s workers’ compensation policy.
The employer pays the full cost to provide workers’ compensation coverage.
States – California
Employers obtain workers’ compensation coverage from private insurance companies, the state fund, or self-insurance programs.
All employees are covered, including minors; independent contractors are not covered. Aliens are covered even if they are employed illegally.
Employees who are incapacitated from work for a temporary total disability period of over 14 days are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits beginning the day after the injury.
For temporary total disability periods that are less than 14 days, benefits are payable beginning the 4th day following an injury.
LRC-CA-80.05
Can the employee in the United States – California join labor union?
Evershine RD:
Federal
Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees have the right to self-organize; form, join, or assist unions.
States – California
Employees have the right to join unions and choose representatives to negotiate terms and conditions of employment.
Employers and their agents can’t interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees’ exercise of such rights or participation in collective bargaining and other concerted activities for mutual aid or protection.
LRC-CA-80.06
How to handle labor dispute in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The most widely used forms of alternative dispute resolution are negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
Typically, if you can’t resolve a dispute through direct talks with the other side, you can turn to mediation, in which a neutral third party helps you reach a settlement that’s mutually agreeable to both you and the other party to the dispute.
If mediation fails and the contesting parties can’t decide on their own, you can seek arbitration, in which an arbitrator hears both sides of the dispute and decides for the parties, keeping in mind fairness, contractual obligations, and the law.
States – California
According to Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1280, Employers are covered by the arbitration law, which applies to written arbitration agreements between employers and employees or their representatives.
According to Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1775.1, Employers are covered by the mediation law.
Mediation is a process where a neutral person facilitates communication between the parties to a dispute to help them reach mutually acceptable agreement. According to Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1002.5, Employers are covered by the settlement agreement provisions.
LRC-CA-90.10
What are the regulations on workplace safety and health for employees in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) requires employers to provide employees with a safe and healthy place of employment.
Workplace safety policies should include:
- company goals, such as complying with applicable law or striving to eliminate workplace injuries
- management commitment, including allocation of sufficient resources and participation in safety program activities
- ways to encourage employee participation in workplace safety programs
- outlines of employee responsibilities, such as wearing required protective equipment
- procedures for analyzing the worksite for hazards and conducting initial and regular audits
- provisions for posting safety-related information
- accident investigation procedures
- measures for preventing, controlling, and reporting hazards; and
- safety training
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act has no requirement that all employers adopt formal safety and health policies, although specific standards require certain employers to implement written programs outlining emergency action plans, chemical and hazard communication, energy control procedures, and similar safety training efforts.
States – California
The California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 was enacted by the California Legislature to assure safe and healthful working conditions for all California working men and women.
Cal/OSHA wants every worker to go home from work each day safe and healthy.
California employers have many different responsibilities which include:
- Establish, implement, and maintain an Injury and Illness Prevention Program and update it periodically to keep employees safe.
- Inspect workplace(s) to identify and correct unsafe and hazardous conditions.
- Make sure employees have and use safe tools and equipment and properly maintain this equipment.
- Provide and pay for personal protective equipment.
- Establish or update operating procedures and communicate them so employees follow safety and health requirements.
- Provide medical examinations and training when required by Cal/OSHA standards.
LRC-CA-100.10
What are the circumstances that an employer can terminate an employee in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The employer or the employee may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any (non-discriminatory or non-retaliatory) reason with or without notice.
States – California
Employment in California is at-will, meaning either an employer or an employee may terminate the employment relationship at any time by giving the other party notice.
Employment relationships are not deemed to be severable at will if the employment is for a specified term (greater than one month), except that employment for a specified term may be terminated at any time:
- by the employer, based on an employee’s willful breach of any of his or her duties in the course of employment, an employee’s habitual neglect of his or her duties, or an employee’s continued incapacity to perform his or her job, or;
- by the employee, based on any willful or permanent breach of the employer’s obligations to him or her as an employee.
LRC-CA-100.11
What is the notification period for terminating an employee in the United States – California?
How much is the severance pay?
Evershine RD:
Federal
U.S. law does not impose a formal “notice period” to terminate an individual employment relationship. Most employees are employed “at-will” and either party can terminate the employment relationship without notice.
The WARN Act notices must be given at least 60 calendar days prior to plant closings or mass layoffs.
Severance pays, compensation paid to an employee upon termination from employment, is not required by federal law.
There is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for severance pay.
However, employers are required to provide severance pay if stipulated in a contract, such as an employment contract.
Many employers offer severance pay to provide a source of income to involuntarily terminated employees.
In addition to involuntary terminations, some employers provide severance pay to employees whose employment is terminated voluntarily to secure certain promises from departing employees, such as waivers of claims or enforcement of noncompetition and other employment agreements.
Employers sometimes provide severance as a supplement to state unemployment insurance benefits.
States – California
If the employment term is unspecified, employers can terminate employment at any time by notifying employees.
Employment is for a specified term if it is for a period greater than one month.
There is no legal requirement under California law that employers provide severance pay to an employee upon termination of employment.
Employees should refer to their employer’s policy with respect to severance pay.
Evershine RD:
Federal
Terminations that are the result of a plant closing or a mass layoff trigger special notice obligations to unions under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
In those circumstances, the WARN Act requires an employer to provide at least 60 days’ notice to the chief elected officer of the exclusive representatives or bargaining agencies of affected employees.
States – California
Employers may be required to notify a state agency about employee separations from employment.
Employers may be required to report employee separations from employment, including the reason for separation, to a state agency for unemployment insurance benefit purposes.
Plant closings and mass layoffs:
Employers must give 60 days’ written advance notice of a mass layoff, relocation, or termination to the state Employment Development Department, the local workforce investment board, and the chief elected official of each affected city and county.
The notices must contain the same information required for notices under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
LRC-CA-100.20
What are the regulations on mass layoffs in the United States – California?
Evershine RD:
Federal
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 require employers to provide advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs to employees or their union representatives, state dislocated worker units, and local government officials.
In general, the WARN Act applies to private employers with 100 or more employees and requires notice at least 60 days prior to qualifying layoffs and closings.
Employers are covered under the WARN Act if they have:
- 100 or more full-time employees; or
- 100 or more full- and part-time employees who work a combined total of at least 4,000 hours per week, excluding overtime.
The WARN Act applies to:
- plant closings that cause employment loss to 50 or more full-time employees during any 30-day period.
- mass layoffs that cause employment loss to 50 or more full-time employees and at least 33 percent of full-time employees during any 30-day period. If 500 or more full-time employees are affected by a mass layoff, the 33 percent requirement doesn’t apply; and
- plant closings or mass layoffs that affect two or more groups of employees at a single site of employment within any 90-day period where the groups of employees individually don’t meet the minimum employee threshold for the WARN Act notice but added together exceed that threshold, unless employers demonstrate that the group terminations are for separate and distinct reasons and aren’t attempts to evade the WARN Act requirements.
States – California
The plant closings and mass layoffs law applies to any employer that owns and operates an industrial or commercial facility that employs or has employed 75 or more workers in the past 12 months.
Employees entitled to notice include those who have worked at a facility for at least 6 of the 12 months preceding the layoff, relocation, or closing.
The notice duties apply to:
* Mass layoffs, which are layoffs affecting 50 or more employees during a 30-day period.
* Relocations of facilities employing 75 or more persons, in which all or most operations are moved to a site 100 or more miles away and,
* Terminations, or closing of facilities employing 75 or more persons, in which all or most industrial and commercial operations at the facility cease.
Employers must give 60 days’ written advance notice to the affected employees of any mass layoff, relocation, or termination.
The notice must contain the same information required for notices under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
LRC-CA-100.30
What is the time limit for employers in the United States – California to pay employees upon termination?
Evershine RD:
Federal
Federal law generally doesn’t govern final wage payments, but many states have requirements about the timing and calculation of those payments.
States – California
Employers must pay wages immediately when they discharge employees.
They must pay employees who quit and who do not have written employment contracts for specified time periods within 72 hours of quitting.
They must pay employees who give 72 hours’ advance notice of their intention to quit, and who quit on the day given in the notice, at the time the workers end their employment.
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