Labor & Employment: A Roundtable Discussion

August 31, 2020Article
Los Angeles Business Journal

Wendy Lane, Greenberg Glusker partner and chair of the firm's Employment Law Group, answers important questions in the Los Angeles Business Journal's feature, "Labor & Employment: A Roundtable Discussion," published on August 31, 2020.

Excerpt:

What are the most significant new employment laws taking effect in 2020?

LANE: Laws providing for leaves of absence related to and COVID-19, such as the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Los Angeles worker protection and emergency sick leave laws, have been prominent this year. In addition, California codified the “ABC Test” for independent contractors, which provides that an individual is presumed to be an employee unless the hiring entity can satisfy the rigorous “ABC Test” (including showing that the contractor is performing work outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.) The new statute also exempts a number of professions and industries from the ABC test. California has also enacted laws and regulations expanding rights to lactation accommodation, protecting hair styles associated with race, and prohibiting certain pre-employment practices (e.g. applications, advertising and interviewing) which might enable employers to screen out applicants based on age, medical conditions, disability, and religion. Nationally, the United States Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbids employers from taking adverse action against employees on the basis of their sexual orientation or transgender status.

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