What's New in Employment Law?

As election season heats up, employers should expect more political discussion at work, more employee social media activity outside of work, and more tension between employees with strongly held views.

For California employers, the issue is not simply whether politics belong in the workplace. The better question is what employers can regulate without violating California law.

California Protects Political Activity

California gives employees significant protection when it comes to political activity. Labor Code section 1101 generally prohibits employers from making or enforcing rules that prevent employees from engaging in politics or becoming candidates for public office. Labor Code section 1102 generally prohibits employers from using threats of termination or other job-related consequences to influence or control an employee’s political activities.

That means employers should be careful when responding to an employee’s support for a candidate, attendance at a rally, political donation, campaign activity, or political affiliation.

Off-Duty Conduct Creates More Risk

California also protects certain lawful off-duty conduct. Labor Code section 96(k) allows claims for lost wages when an employee is demoted, suspended, or discharged for lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer’s premises. Labor Code section 98.6 separately prohibits retaliation or discrimination against employees for conduct covered by section 96(k) and other protected activities.

These protections do not give employees unlimited freedom to say or do anything without workplace consequences. However, they do make discipline riskier when the conduct occurred outside work, away from the workplace, and did not violate any neutral workplace rule.

Employers Still Can Enforce Workplace Rules

Political activity protections do not mean employers have to let politics take over the workplace.

Employers may still enforce neutral rules about working time, productivity, harassment, discrimination, bullying, threats, workplace violence, use of company systems, dress codes, solicitation, and customer service. The key is consistency.

A policy that limits disruptive political arguments during working time is very different from a supervisor telling employees which candidate they should support. A rule against harassment is very different from discipline based on an employee’s political affiliation.

Voting Leave Obligations Matter Too

Voting issues also deserve attention. In California, employees who do not have enough time outside working hours to vote in a statewide election may take enough working time to vote without loss of pay, with up to two hours paid. Employers also must post the required voting leave notice before statewide elections.

Employers should make sure managers understand the voting leave rules before election questions start coming in.

Political Discussions Can Create Other Legal Risks

The risk increases when politics intersects with other protected categories. A political debate can quickly become a complaint about race, religion, national origin, gender identity, immigration status, disability, military status, or another protected characteristic.

Employers also may see complaints involving harassment, retaliation, unequal discipline, protected concerted activity, or off-duty conduct.

Broad Bans Are Not the Answer

The safest approach is not to ban all political discussion. Broad bans can create their own legal problems and are difficult to enforce fairly.

Instead, employers should focus on conduct, not viewpoints. Managers should know they may not pressure employees to support a candidate, oppose a measure, attend a political event, make a contribution, or stay quiet about lawful political activity outside work.

What Employers Should Review Now

Employers should review policies before a heated workplace situation forces a rushed decision. The most important policies include harassment prevention, workplace violence prevention, electronic communications, social media, solicitation and distribution, dress code, standards of conduct, conflict of interest, and voting leave.

Employers also should remind managers when to involve HR, especially if political tension becomes personal, threatening, discriminatory, or disruptive.

The Bottom Line

California employers can maintain a respectful, productive workplace during election season. The risk comes from regulating the viewpoint instead of the conduct. Focus on disruption, harassment, threats, working time, and business impact — not on which side an employee supports.

The post Politics at Work: What California Employers Can and Cannot Control first appeared on Shaw Law Group.

      

California employers already adjusted to the statewide minimum wage increase to $16.90 per hour on January 1, 2026. Beginning July 1, however, several cities and local jurisdictions will increase their own minimum wage rates, creating another compliance checkpoint for employers across the state.

For employers with operations in multiple locations, remote employees, or industry-specific obligations, assuming the statewide minimum wage applies can become an expensive mistake.

Which Local Rates Are Increasing?

Effective July 1, 2026, local minimum wages will increase in several California jurisdictions, including:

• Berkeley: $19.61/hour
• City of Los Angeles: $18.42/hour
• Los Angeles County (unincorporated areas): $18.47/hour
• Malibu: $17.91/hour
• Pasadena: $18.57/hour
• San Francisco: $19.61/hour
• Santa Monica: $18.47/hour
• Fremont: $18.05/hour
• Milpitas: $18.50/hour
• Emeryville: $20.34/hour

These rates exceed the California statewide minimum wage and may apply depending on where employees perform work, not simply where an employer is headquartered.

Industry-Specific Wage Rules Continue to Complicate Compliance

Certain industries remain subject to separate wage requirements.

Examples include:

Hotel workers:
Large hotels in Los Angeles and Santa Monica will be subject to a $25.00/hour minimum wage. West Hollywood hotel workers also will receive a raise.

Healthcare workers:
Minimum wage obligations vary by facility type and continue increasing under California’s phased healthcare minimum wage framework, with some covered facilities reaching $25.00/hour.

Fast food workers:
The statewide fast food minimum wage remains $20.00/hour.

Questions to Ask

Before July 1, employers should confirm:

1. Where are employees actually working?
   Remote and hybrid work arrangements may trigger local wage ordinances different from the employer’s principal location.
2. Do any employees fall within industry-specific wage rules?
   Healthcare and hospitality remain particularly complex.
3. Have payroll systems been updated by work location?
   Multi-jurisdiction employers often have inconsistent settings across locations.

The Practical Risk

Minimum wage compliance problems rarely stay limited to minimum wage issues. They can trigger overtime, meal and rest premium, waiting time penalty, wage statement, and PAGA exposure.

A payroll assumption made in June can become litigation by December.

Employer Takeaway

California minimum wage compliance is no longer a “statewide rate” exercise. Employers should review applicable local ordinances, industry-specific rules, and employee work locations before July 1 to ensure payroll practices align with current requirements.

The post California Minimum Wage Increases Hit Again on July 1: Employers With Multi-Location Workforces Need to Pay Attention first appeared on Shaw Law Group.

      

Most employers understand their obligation to address harassment by supervisors and coworkers. Fewer appreciate the risk posed by people who do not work for the organization at all, including customers, vendors, contractors, patients, clients, and members of the public.

Claims involving third-party harassment are receiving increased attention, particularly as federal courts continue to grapple with when employers should be liable for misconduct committed by non-employees. California employers should proceed carefully. Federal uncertainty does not reduce risk under California law.

Under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), employers may be liable for harassment by non-employees if the employer, or its agents or supervisors, knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.

The alleged harasser’s employment status is often less important than the employer’s response.

What is Third-Party Harassment?

Third-party harassment occurs when someone outside the employer’s workforce engages in unlawful conduct directed at an employee. Common examples include:

• Customers making sexual comments to employees
• Vendors engaging in racist or discriminatory behavior
• Patients harassing healthcare workers
• Clients making repeated inappropriate advances
• Contractors targeting employees based on protected characteristics

In these situations, employers may argue they lacked direct control over the individual, but that argument has limits.

California law does not require employers to control every third party. However, it does require reasonable action when problems arise.

The Employer’s Response Often Determines Risk

Courts evaluating harassment claims frequently examine what the employer did after learning of the conduct.

Questions may include:

• Was the complaint taken seriously?
• Was there a prompt investigation?
• Were steps taken to stop or reduce exposure to the behavior?
• Was the employee protected from continued mistreatment?
• Did managers minimize concerns because the individual was an important customer, client, or business partner?

Employers rarely face criticism for investigating complaints. Risk grows when concerns are ignored, delayed, or treated informally.

Although Control is Limited, Responsibility is Not.

Third-party harassment presents practical challenges. Employers cannot terminate customers, discipline members of the public, or always remove difficult clients or patients. That fact does not eliminate responsibility, though.

Reasonable corrective action may include:

• Reassigning work or limiting contact
• Issuing warnings to vendors or customers
• Changing reporting structures or schedules
• Ending business relationships where appropriate
• Documenting complaints and responses
• Training managers to identify and escalate concerns

The appropriate response depends on the circumstances. Doing nothing is often the greater risk.

Frontline Leaders Remain a Common Failure Point

Employees do not always report concerns to HR. Complaints often begin with supervisors, leads, or managers perceived as having authority.

When those concerns are dismissed, minimized, or never escalated, employers lose valuable opportunities to intervene before a workplace issue becomes a legal claim.

Training leaders to recognize potential harassment complaints and respond appropriately remains one of the most effective prevention tools available.

The Bottom Line

Workplaces increasingly involve interactions with non-employees: vendors, staffing agencies, customers, contractors, patients, and the public. As those interactions expand, so does an employer’s potential exposure.

For California employers, the better question is often not whether a legal duty exists in a particular situation. Instead, it is whether the organization responded as a reasonable employer would under the circumstances.

At Shaw Law Group, we help employers investigate complaints, train leaders, and respond to workplace issues before they become litigation. We Solve Workplace Problems.®

The post Third-Party Harassment Claims first appeared on Shaw Law Group.

      

Most public sector employment law problems do not begin with dramatic misconduct or obvious legal violations. They begin with ordinary workplace decisions made under pressure.

A supervisor informally adjusts a schedule without considering overtime implications. An accommodation request gets treated like a performance issue. A complaint is handled “off the books” to avoid disruption. An investigation begins before anyone defines scope, preserves documents, or evaluates retaliation risk.

Individually, these moments may seem manageable. Collectively, they create significant exposure for California public employers.

The Growing Gap Between Policy and Practice

Public agencies now operate at the intersection of employment law, labor relations, operational demands, public accountability, and rapidly evolving employee expectations. HR leaders are expected to move quickly while navigating FEHA, the ADA, CFRA, FMLA, labor agreements, civil service systems, constitutional protections, and agency-specific policies that do not always align neatly.

And unlike many private employers, public agencies often make these decisions under public scrutiny.

Years ago, many organizations focused on whether policies existed. Today, the greater issue is whether those policies are being applied consistently, thoughtfully, and defensibly in practice.

That distinction matters. Most liability does not come from the absence of a policy. It comes from the disconnect between policy language and operational reality.

A leave policy may technically comply with the law, but supervisors may not understand how protected leave intersects with performance management. An anti-retaliation policy may exist, but managers may still react defensively after employee complaints. An agency may have investigation protocols in place, yet inconsistent interviews, delayed responses, or poor documentation can still undermine the process.

Why Experience Alone Is Not Enough

One of the most common mistakes public employers make is assuming that experience alone protects against risk.

In reality, even sophisticated organizations can develop problematic practices over time because operational shortcuts become normalized before anyone evaluates them legally.

Supervisors begin discussing sensitive employee matters through texts or side conversations. Managers try to “help” struggling employees without involving HR early enough. Agencies delay investigations because of morale concerns or operational demands.

Practical decisions in the moment often become legal problems later.

At the same time, workplace issues rarely fit neatly into a single category anymore. A performance issue may also involve protected leave. A misconduct investigation may implicate accommodation obligations. A remote work dispute may raise labor relations concerns, retaliation allegations, and disability issues simultaneously.

That overlap requires agencies to think more strategically and more consistently than ever before.

What Effective Agencies Are Doing Differently

The agencies managing these challenges most effectively are usually not the ones with the harshest disciplinary cultures or the thickest policy manuals. They are the organizations investing in practical decision-making, consistent training, early issue recognition, and defensible processes.

In other words, they focus not just on compliance, but on execution.

That shift from policy to practice is becoming one of the defining challenges in California public sector employment law. It is also why investigations, accommodations, retaliation prevention, documentation practices, and supervisor training continue to dominate conversations among public employers. These are no longer isolated HR issues. They are operational leadership issues that directly affect culture, employee trust, and legal exposure.

Upcoming All-Day Workshop

Shaw Law Group will be discussing many of these trends and practical risk areas during our upcoming September 22, 2026, program, From Policy to Practice: Public Sector Employment Law in Action, a six-hour workshop focused on how public employers can better navigate the growing gap between written policy and real-world workplace management. Space is limited. Register here.

The post Where Public Sector Risk Really Starts first appeared on Shaw Law Group.

      

You have seen it play out. A strong employee needs flexibility. A manager wants to help. A decision gets made in the moment, practical, human, and well-intended. No one thinks twice about it. Months later, that same decision shows up in a demand letter.

This pattern is common in California workplaces. Employers don’t get into trouble because they don’t care. They get into trouble because real-world decisions are made faster than the processes designed to support them.

Flexibility Without Structure
Picture a manager adjusting a schedule so a high performer can handle family obligations. Maybe the employee works from home a few days a week or shifts their hours. No one documents the arrangement. No one evaluates whether the change affects overtime, expense reimbursement, or internal equity.

At the time, the decision feels right. Later, if the arrangement ends or other employees raise concerns, the employer has no clear record of what was agreed to or why. The story becomes inconsistent treatment or unpaid time, not thoughtful flexibility. California law focuses on what can be proven, not what was intended.

Accommodation by Instinct
Now think about how often supervisors try to solve medical or pregnancy-related issues on their own. An employee mentions a limitation. The supervisor adjusts duties or allows time off, trying to be supportive without escalating the issue.

That instinct is understandable, but it can derail the legal process. Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, the obligation is to engage in a structured, good faith interactive process based on medical information. When decisions happen informally, the employer loses control over that process. If the situation later breaks down, the lack of a documented analysis becomes the problem.

“We Trust Our Employees” and Wage Exposure
Most employers trust their teams. That trust shows up in how time is tracked and how work gets done. Employees are expected to take compliant meal breaks, record all hours worked, and manage their own workloads.

Then reality steps in. A high performer works through lunch to stay ahead. A manager sees it happen and says nothing because the work is getting done. Later, the employer argues that the employee chose to skip breaks.

That argument rarely works. California law asks whether the employer provided a real opportunity for a duty-free break and relieved the employee of all work. Knowledge, especially quiet, unspoken knowledge, undermines the defense. The same pattern shows up with off-the-clock work, after-hours emails, and quick tasks that never make it onto a time record.

Titles That Outpace Duties
Promotions often follow the same path. An employer wants to recognize someone who is doing excellent work. A new title and a salary increase follow, along with the assumption that the role is now exempt.

In practice, the job does not change much. The employee continues doing the same work, just with a new title. However, California law doesn’t look at titles; it looks at duties. If those duties remain primarily non-exempt, the classification risk is immediate.

This issue surfaces with interns and trainees as well. Programs are designed with good intentions, but if they do not meet legal standards, the individuals involved may be treated as employees entitled to wages and protections.

The Conversation That Becomes an Investigation
Workplace concerns rarely arrive in a neat package. A comment in a meeting. A complaint raised casually. An email that hints at something more. A manager looks into the issue informally, talks to a few people, and moves on.

That approach feels efficient but often creates exposure. If the issue later becomes a legal claim, the employer may struggle to show what it knew and what it did. In California, the absence of a clear record can matter as much as the underlying conduct.

Consistency Is Tested
Across these situations, the common thread is not bad intent. It is inconsistency. Decisions are made case-by-case, in the moment, without a framework that ties them together.

California law tests consistency. It asks whether similar situations were handled in similar ways, whether decisions were grounded in policy, and whether the employer can explain the reasoning behind its actions. When the answers depend on memory instead of documentation, the risk increases.

A More Defensible Way to Operate
Flexibility does not have to disappear. It just needs structure behind it. When supervisors and managers know when to pause, when to involve HR, and how to document decisions, the employer can support its team without creating unnecessary exposure.

That structure starts with policies that reflect how the business actually operates. It continues with training that helps leaders recognize when a situation has legal implications. It shows up in documentation that captures not just what was decided, but why.

Regular check-ins also matter. Practices drift. Managers develop habits. What worked last year may not align with current expectations. Reviewing how decisions are made in real time helps close the gap between intention and execution.

The Bottom Line
You are going to keep making judgment calls. That reality is not changing. In California, the question is whether those calls are supported by a process that holds up later. Good intentions may start the decision, but structure and consistency protect it.

The post When Good Intentions Create Liability first appeared on Shaw Law Group.