California Workplace & Employment Law Blog

California employers have six months left to comply with a new law that took effect on January 1, 2019, which requires virtually all California employers to provide sexual harassment prevention training to all employees. Specifically, by January 1, 2020, employers with five or more employees must provide one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to nonsupervisory employees and two hours of such training to supervisors.

As previously reported, just over a year ago, the California Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision instituting a new test, called the “ABC test,” to determine whether a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor instead of an employee. On May 3, 2019, the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), issued an opinion letter providing California employers with further insight on how the Labor Commissioner’s Office plans to apply the ABC test.

Many California employers are not aware that they are required to pay nonexempt (meaning “hourly”) employees for time traveling to, and attending, work-related functions such as conferences, seminars, and trainings.  Although travel time from home to work and back is usually not compensable, most other travel time that is required for work is considered work time that must be paid.