On September 28, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1897 (click here for a copy), adding Section 2810.3 to the California Labor Code. Under the new law, any business entity that obtains workers from a "labor contractor" (such as a staffing agency) shares - along with the staffing agency - all legal responsibility and liability for both (1) payment of those workers' wages, and (2) any failure to obtain valid workers' compensation coverage for those workers. The law defines "workers" as those employees who are not exempt from payment of overtime under California law (such as exempt professional, administrative, or executive employees), and defines "labor contractor" as any individual or entity (such as a staffing agency) that supplies businesses with workers to perform labor for that business's regular and customary work.
New California Law May Undermine The Benefits Of Privacy Commonly Associated With Arbitration Proceedings Between Employers And Employees
On September 30, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 802 (click here for a copy). The new law applies to all consumer arbitrations commenced on or after January 1, 2015, and requires all private arbitration companies to collect, publish (on a quarterly basis), and make available to the public information in the form of a single cumulative report. The report must be available on the arbitration company's website, and in hardcopy form, and must contain all of the following information regarding every single consumer arbitration within the preceding five years:
