To my clients, colleagues and friends,
Happy New Year!
Last year, in the middle of all the COVID craziness, I decided I really wanted to find a way to get information out to my clients more frequently, because the laws kept changing, and the world had gotten nuts, and everyone would call and text and message me on Facebook and Instagram and everywhere trying to find out what the hell was going on. No one was on any one platform, least of all LinkedIn where you would think they should be, and it didn’t make sense to do formal client alerts every week or two. And I didn’t think anyone would listen to a Podcast. And no one follows a blog (!). So I decided that I would just do my own regular (or semi-regular) emails to update you all on the information I felt you needed to know.
And every week, I kept thinking I would start doing this emails, and it would get so busy. But now it’s a new year, and it’s time for new year resolutions. Plus, it was just in time for Los Angeles County to issue its updated COVID guidelines, along with all the new minimum wage laws. So, today seemed like as good a time as any.
Welcome to my Monday Morning Briefing! (a little late today, thanks to all the new laws and Omicron frenzy). If you don’t want to be bothered with this, let me know and I will take you off my list. Or, if you know anyone else you think might want to receive this and believe is not, let me know. I will try to just touch on a few topics of importance each week, so not to overload you all.
COVID: LADPH CHANGES ITS COVID-19 GUIDANCE EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 31, 2021 + OMICRON OUTBREAKS
To begin, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health finally caught up to California Department of Public Health, which had changed its guidance to align with the new isolation and quarantine protocols issued by the CDC. If you are not in Los Angeles County, you should check with your local county. However, Los Angeles often has the most restrictive rules compared to other counties, many of whom just follow what the state dictates. For example, LADPH now requires that “as soon as practicable, employers should provide and require employees to wear a well fitting medical grade mask, surgical mask or higher-level respirator approved by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), such as an N95 filtering facepiece, at all times while indoors at the worksite or facility.” This was NOT restricted or limited to any particular type of industry, and, for example, would seem to apply equally to businesses such as insurance offices as well as manufacturing plants. Neither CDPH nor Cal/OSHA currently includes this rule in its order. This is ALL Los Angeles. I have no idea how they will, if they will, attempt to enforce this. I don’t even know if there are enough N95 masks to go around for something like this.
The good news in the guidance, however, is that the definitions of “isolation” and “quarantine” have been reduced. Now, those who have tested positive, regardless of vaccination status, must self-isolate for at least FIVE DAYS, and they may return to work with a negative test if they are either asymptomatic or have reducing symptoms and are fever free. The quarantine rules (the rules for close contacts) have also been changed for those who have not been vaccinated or fully boosted. They can now end their quarantine after day FIVE if they test negative immediately and again on day FIVE, so long as they are symptom free. For now, those who are vaccinated need not quarantine (but Cal/OSHA has this changing in a few weeks, so stand by). These are just the quick highlights of the new rules, and as always, you should consult the applicable Health Order or contact of us when you have a COVID situation occur in the workplace. By the way, LA now considers “fully vaccinated” to include a booster if someone is so eligible.
Don’t forget that Cal/OSHA has issued specific rules governing outbreaks – situations where there are three or more COVID occurrences in any one workplace. This is happening quite a bit with Omicron, so make sure to call us if you need to brush up on these protocols as well. You will only have 48 hours to implement the proper procedures, including notifying the local health officials.
NEW YEAR, NEW MINIMUM WAGES!
Happy New Year; it’s time to raise those wages! Minimum wage in California has officially hit its $15/hour mark, something that was set in motion years ago by Governor Jerry Brown. Employers of under 26 employees still have one more year to pay their employees at $14/hour, so long as they are not in a local jurisdiction, like Los Angeles, Santa Monica, or now West Hollywood, which requires employers pay more. As of this January 1, West Hollywood now will require employers of 50 or more to pay $15.50, and those under to pay $15/hour. WeHo employers will also have to offer a very generous sick AND vacation policy, along with additional unpaid time off to care for family members. And if you are a hotel operator in West Hollywood, you are paying $17.64 an hour this year.
But don’t feel bad, So Cal employers. Bay Area employers are way ahead of us. Several cities up north are now tied to the CPI and their minimum wages are going up accordingly, including San Francisco, Palo Alto, Daly City, Oakland, Santa Clara, and many others. To be safe, you should always check to see the legal location of all businesses you operate, and do not forget remote employees. During the pandemic, many of us have had employees move to the other locations. In most circumstances, their wage rate is determined by THEIR location, NOT yours. Make sure you know where they are living and working, and pay their wages, and benefits, accordingly.
And remember that with the increase of state minimum wage, so, too, increases the minimum salary test for exempt employees. This year, the new floor to pay salaried, exempt employees in California is $62,400. But keep in mind, even if your employees are paid enough to be exempt, they must spend more than half their time engaged in exempt functions to be considered exempt employees. The new year is a good time to audit for these kinds of issues and make changes, if necessary.
ANNUAL LEGAL UPDATE – JANUARY 12, 2022
It wouldn’t be a new year without our annual employment law update, so we will be hosting that via webinar on January 12 this year. I am attaching the flyer for that, which of course some of you didn’t get, and if you can’t sign up here for some reason, you can go onto our website as always. Or just let me know and we can set you up. We’ve come a long way from the days where we used to gather round the pastries at the Four Seasons every year for these events, and while I miss seeing you all in person, doing these by zoom does make it easier for you all to attend and for us to bring to you. And now, if you miss them, we can also send you the recording. Oh, but the flowers in that Beverly Hills lobby never ceased to amaze me.
So that’s it for my first edition. I will try to get these out earlier in the day from now on. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it. I am sure these will be a work in process. After all, this will be my 37th year of legal practice. I do have to keep reinventing from time to time. We have come a long way from the first newsletters I put out on Word DOS 4.0 and photocopied at the xerox machine in 1986.
Happy 2022, all, stay SAFE!