Labor & Employment Law Blog

In light of the unprecedented wildfires in the Los Angeles area which commenced on January 7, 2025, the DLSE published a Frequently Asked Questions website to provide guidance to California employers on laws enforced by the Labor Commissioner’s office.

A recent NLRB decision in Lion Elastomers LLC, 372 NLRB 83 (May 1, 2023) restored prior Board law, which had used context-specific approaches to assess whether am employee’s outburst stripped him of protection under the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”).  The decision by the current, three-member Democratic majority Board, makes it more difficult for employers to discipline or discharge employees who engage in profane, abusive or otherwise inappropriate conduct when done in connection with protected activity under the Act.  The restored law assesses employee conduct by applying highly amorphous setting-specific tests for the following various contexts: 

In a recent article, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) reported that during the first six months of 2022, union representation petitions filed at the NLRB increased 58%—up to 1,892 from 1,197 during the first half of 2021.  (https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/correction-first-three-quarters-union-election-petitions-up-58-exceeding).  The NLRB also reported that in 2021, 52% of petitions filed resulted in a victory for the union as compared to only 46% in 2020.  (https://www.nlrb.gov/reports/nlrb-case-activity-reports/representation-cases/intake/representation-petitions-rc).

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, California passed the “Right to Recall” law, which requires employers in the building services and hospitality industries to offer laid-off employees an opportunity to be rehired before hiring a new employee to fill the position.  Now that most businesses and companies are ramping back up and returning to work, employers covered by the Right to Recall law must ensure compliance with California’s recall requirements or face steep penalties. 

Effective January 1, 2019, construction workers covered by certain collective bargaining agreements (“CBA”) will be exempt from the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, commonly referred to as PAGA. 

The NLRB recently held that temporary employees and regular employees have a right to petition to join a combined bargaining unit, even if the staffing agency and employer object to the formation of the combined unit. In Miller & Anderson, 364 NLRB No. 9 (July 11, 2016), the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continued its campaign to undermine third-party staffing relationships.  The decision ...