Contracts

Effective January 1, 2026, California’s Assembly Bill 692 will continue the state’s longstanding trend of broadening worker mobility protections by prohibiting most forms of “repayment on separation” provisions in new employment agreements. The new law, AB 692, directly targets contractual provisions that require workers to repay training expenses, tuition, bonuses, or other employer-funded investments if…

California employers have long understood the state’s hostility toward contractual restraints on employee mobility. While non-competes are expressly prohibited, enforcement of related restrictions—such as no-poach and employee non-solicitation provisions—was historically uneven. Many disputes played out quietly in private litigation or arbitration, if they surfaced at all. That approach is changing. A recent settlement announced by…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has formally withdrawn its defense of the nationwide non-compete ban, a signature rule of the Biden-era agency. The ban, intended to curb restrictive employment contracts and enhance worker mobility, faced immediate legal challenges—most notably from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business coalitions—which questioned the FTC’s authority to impose…

As California employers rightfully reflect on their accomplishments from 2023, it is time to look ahead to 2024 and make sure your company’s New Year’s Resolutions include the following: Employee Handbook/Policy Changes 2024 Paid Sick Leave Changes: As of January 1, 2024, most employers are required to provide 5 days/40 hours of paid sick leave…

No later than Valentine’s Day 2024, California employers will be required to send “candy grams” to former and existing employees with unenforceable non-competes informing them that those provisions are void. Complicating this new legal requirement is an expanded definition of what constitutes an unenforceable non-compete and the creation of a new legal claim that can…

On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule that would prohibit employers from imposing non-compete agreements on their employees and independent contractors. A non-compete clause contractually prevents a worker from competing against an employer, usually within a specified geographic area and period of time after the work relationship with the employer…

If you use a staffing agency for your workforce, the California Supreme Court just issued an important decision that may affect your rights. In Grande v. Eisenhower Medical Center, the California Supreme Court held that a wage-hour class action settlement for $750,000 between an employee and the staffing company did not preclude the employee from…

On June 15, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a bellwether decision that has the potential to dramatically decrease employers’ exposure under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). PAGA has bedeviled California employers for nearly two decades now, leaving employers responsible for billions of dollars in Labor Code penalties and attorney’s fees. The…

In two recent cases, judges have struck down recently enacted California statutes requiring diversity for underrepresented communities and for women on the boards of directors of publicly held corporations based in California. Those statutes require that publicly held corporations with principal executive offices in California have a specified number of such directors—depending on the size…

The employment law landscape is always shifting, and there’s a lot to navigate, especially as the pandemic drags into its third year. On February 14, 2022, Hirschfeld Kraemer lawyers Steve Hirschfeld, Hieu Williams, Monte Grix, and Ferry Lopez presented a 90-minute webinar providing insight on the hottest developments in labor and employment law in 2021,…