On Oct. 4, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill No. 616 (SB 616). Effective Jan. 1, 2024, SB 616 expands the existing paid sick leave entitlements currently available to employees under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (HWHFA). This GT Alert provides an overview of the HWHFA as it currently exists, summarizes what is and what is not changing as a result of SB 616, addresses the interplay between state law and the patchwork of local legislation, and offers considerations to prepare for 2024 and beyond.

Continue reading the full GT Alert.

Tags: california, California sick leave law, GT Insight, Labor & Employment, sick leave
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Photo of Ellen M. Bandel Ellen M. Bandel

Ellen M. Bandel is a trusted advisor and experienced attorney in the Labor and Employment practice, counseling both unionized and nonunion employers on all aspects of employment law. She provides strategic and compliance-focused guidance on workplace matters including recruitment, employee performance and discipline…

Ellen M. Bandel is a trusted advisor and experienced attorney in the Labor and Employment practice, counseling both unionized and nonunion employers on all aspects of employment law. She provides strategic and compliance-focused guidance on workplace matters including recruitment, employee performance and discipline, workforce reductions, leaves of absence, wage and hour compliance, disability accommodations, and risk mitigation for terminations. Ellen is a go-to resource for drafting and implementing employee handbooks, personnel policies, employment agreements, non-competes, and severance agreements, and regularly conducts workplace audits, investigations, and training to ensure discrimination and harassment-free environments. Her experience spans the full employment life cycle and covers a range of industries and geographies, with particular depth in California law and “trending” state and local legislation, such as paid sick leave, paid family and medical leaves, pay transparency, pre-employment restrictions, and workplace violence prevention mandates.

Ellen is also frequently engaged to support employment-related issues in mergers and acquisitions, including post-merger employee integration.

Ellen is recognized for her practical, tailored approaches to complex employment issues and her ability to work closely with business and HR leaders to develop actionable strategies that fit each client’s unique needs and culture.

She is also a co-author of PLI’s California Employment Law treatise and a panelist at PLI’s annual Cutting-Edge Employment Law Issues conference, reflecting her thought leadership in the field.

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Photo of Vanessa C. Krumbein Vanessa C. Krumbein

Vanessa C. Krumbein focuses her practice on providing compliance-related and strategic advice to corporate clients of all sizes on all aspects of employment law. Vanessa is a go-to point of contact for advice on a wide range of workplace issues, including employee performance

…

Vanessa C. Krumbein focuses her practice on providing compliance-related and strategic advice to corporate clients of all sizes on all aspects of employment law. Vanessa is a go-to point of contact for advice on a wide range of workplace issues, including employee performance and discipline, mitigating risk associated with employee terminations, compliance with wage and hour and disability accommodation laws, reorganizations and reductions in force, pay transparency, background checks, paid time off issues, workplace complaints, and a variety of other employment matters. Vanessa also works closely with clients to draft and implement employee handbooks and other personnel policies with the goal of making them easy to understand by employees, provides training on maintaining discrimination and harassment-free workplaces, and conducts investigations to address employee complaints of unfair treatment. Vanessa also has experience working on employment issues unique to clients in the media and entertainment sector.

Vanessa is also a go-to source for creating employment documents of all types (such as employment and independent contractor agreements, arbitration agreements, non-competes, confidential information, and IP protection agreements, commission and bonus agreements, and severance packages), and is regularly engaged to conduct audits of workplace wage and hour practices. Vanessa also handles employment-related issues and diligence in M&A transactions and counsels on post-merger employee integration matters. Vanessa regularly partners with clients and colleagues across the globe.

Vanessa has a considerable litigation background which gives her a unique perspective when counseling clients on employment best practices. Vanessa has experience litigating class actions, single-plaintiff, and multi-party civil cases, representing employers in state and federal court on a wide range of labor and employment matters, including, for example, claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wrongful termination, violations of privacy, violations of leave laws, wage and hour disputes, and in responding to and negotiating resolution of charges filed with administrative agencies.

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Photo of Stephanie D. Ahmad Stephanie D. Ahmad

Stephanie D. Ahmad strives to help employers navigate complex benefits issues with confidence and peace of mind. Her practice focuses on employee benefits and ERISA, including health and welfare and retirement benefits. Stephanie has been recognized as a Rising Star by The Legal…

Stephanie D. Ahmad strives to help employers navigate complex benefits issues with confidence and peace of mind. Her practice focuses on employee benefits and ERISA, including health and welfare and retirement benefits. Stephanie has been recognized as a Rising Star by The Legal 500 in Benefit Plan Design. She has helped teams at Greenberg Traurig obtain recognition as a highly regarded firm in Benefit Plan Design and in ERISA Litigation. Stephanie works with a team of talented benefits and compensation practitioners, always with the goal of providing high quality support to clients.

Stephanie represents companies undergoing health benefits audits before the Department of Labor. She works with clients to meet compliance obligations and reduce the likelihood of or impact of an audit. Stephanie litigates ERISA cases in federal court, utilizing the GT platform to work in jurisdictions across the United States. She seeks to secure favorable outcomes for clients and is mindful of managing sensitive employee relations issues. Stephanie also supports mergers and acquisitions by performing employee benefits related transactional due diligence.

Stephanie has experience in the design, implementation, restatement, amendment, and review of health and welfare benefit plans, cafeteria plans, fringe benefit plans, and retirement plans. She regularly counsels clients on compliance with health care reform, laws impacting benefits and benefit plans, and related tax implications. She also regularly advises clients on U.S. leave laws.

Before joining GT, Stephanie served as a law clerk to Judge Harry Pregerson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where she gained experience with ERISA. She graduated from Stanford Law School where she was a student attorney in the Youth and Education Law Clinic, a Senior Editor of the Stanford Law and Policy Review, and a board member of the Stanford Latino Law Student Association. Prior to law school and after graduating with a B.A. from UC Berkeley with distinction, Stephanie taught for two years at a Montessori elementary school in the Caribbean. In addition to her work as an attorney, Stephanie has twice been elected to local office as a school board trustee and she is currently serving her second four-year term.

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