On March 29, 2021, the Biden Administration announced offshore wind energy projects employing President Biden’s ‘whole of government approach’ to position America to lead a “clean energy revolution” while creating thousands of potential union jobs across the country. The President’s Executive Order specifically committed to expanding the offshore wind industry on the Atlantic Coast (in [...]
Last fall, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 979 (AB-979) mandating that all California based public company board of directors have at least one non-white board member by the end of 2021. By the end of 2022, boards with five to eight members will be required to have two directors from underrepresented groups and [...]
On April 28, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California Trucking Association v. Bonta, issued a decision that California’s AB-5 law, now Labor Code Section 2775, is not preempted by federal law. The three-judge panel ruled that the District Court was wrong when it granted a preliminary injunction that prohibited the application of [...]
On April 16th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into immediate effect Senate Bill 93 which will remain in force until December 31, 2024. The bill requires certain employers to offer new positions to former employees laid off for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers of all sizes must offer all new available job positions to [...]
Business owners and executives must be cautious about business practices that could subject them to criminal liability. On April 28, 2021, two former executives of Bumble Bee Foods avoided jail time due to their cooperation with prosecutors in connection with their part in a scheme to fix the price of canned tuna. Ken Worsham, former [...]
Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. faces new criminal charges for its role in the 2019 Kincade wildfire. The charges come after PG&E plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter relating to 2018’s Camp Fire. PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019. The company is challenging the new criminal charges, although it acknowledges the findings [...]
Now that many Americans have received, or soon will receive, the COVID-19 vaccination, can you ask your employees whether or not they’ve been vaccinated without running afoul of employment regulations? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that you can ask employees about their COVID-19 vaccination status. That’s because this question alone isn’t likely to cross [...]
Due to the Golden State’s Covid-19 stay-at-home order last year, California traffic accidents dropped by half according to the Road Ecology Center at the University of California-Davis. While many people suffered economically during the pandemic, it seems that insurers saw record breaking profits in 2020! As a result, California's insurance commissioner ordered auto insurers to report [...]
Kennedy Donohue, a nurse recruiter, was the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed against AMN Services, LLC. AMN used a timekeeping system called Team Time which rounded its timekeeping in ten-minute increments. In the lawsuit, Donohue alleged that she was discouraged from taking breaks and had to take short breaks. AMN’s written policies [...]
One of the most important issues for construction companies is to get fully paid for the work they do. Since the advent of COVID-19, we have seen a rise in payment issues to the point that they have become one of the most contested issues of construction claims. The following are good business practices that [...]
