©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2023 Cal-Peculiarities | 1 Introduction When employers across America face a labor or employment law issue on the Left Coast, a phrase they often hear is, “California is different.” For better or worse, California is different. California is also important, as the nation’s most populous state, the world’s fifth-largest economy, and a notorious trend-setter in employment law. And California’s influence is not limited to just its sister states. As President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., prepared for his debut, the Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled “Make America California Again? That’s Biden’s plan.” The article reported that “California is emerging as the de facto policy think tank of the Biden-Harris administration and of a Congress soon to be under Democratic control.” Several sources have influenced California’s continuing expansion of employee rights (and employer obligations). The chief source has been the extensive legislation codified in the California Labor and Government Codes. In more recent years, counties and cities have gotten into the act in a big way, particularly with respect to issues of minimum wage, sick pay, hazard pay, and scheduling. Also significant have been expansive judicial decisions. These decisions have come not only from California state courts but from federal judges applying California law. Most of these federal judges are within the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals—the circuit that historically has been the most friendly to the interests of plaintiffs (and the circuit most often reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court). A final important source would be the interpretations issued by California administrative agencies empowered to enforce various employment laws. This volume assumes extensive knowledge of federal labor and employment law in the private sector. Our principal focus is on the peculiar aspects of California law that can bewilder even the most sophisticated private employers who are used to doing business elsewhere. Highlighted immediately below are some important areas of California labor and employment law. We do not cover California law in fine detail, but rather simply aim to raise consciousness (a California term) about certain legal issues. (Elsewhere herein is a full-form disclaimer.) The reader with particular subjects in mind can consult the Table of Contents and Glossary (at the front of this volume) and the comprehensive Index of Terms and the Index of Statutory Provisions (at the back). So what’s so peculiar about California labor and employment law? Let us count the ways: Leaves California, going far beyond federal leave law creates a right to unpaid leave for up to four months (or 17.33 weeks) for pregnancy-related disabilities, in addition to any available family leave and any related disability leave (see § 2.1),
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