Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf recently alerted the city that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents soon would be conducting workplace raids and now she is being investigated to see she broke any laws by issuing the warning. “It is Oakland’s legal right to be a…
Posts by Category: California
Employers Can Maintain a Drug Free Workplace in California Despite State Legalization of Recreational Marijuana
California’s passage of the “Control, Regulate, and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act,” commonly referred to as Proposition 64, legalized the scale, possession, and use of recreational marijuana under limited circumstances. The drug still remains an…
Will California Employment Law Protect Medical Marijuana Users?
A proposed bill in the state of California would protect medical marijuana users from employment discrimination. California employers currently can deny employment to users of marijuana, even if the use is to treat a medical condition. But the new bill, AB 2069, would…
The Coming Decline of the Employment Drug Test
Marijuana is now legal in nine states and Washington, D.C., which has resulted in the slow decline of pre-employment drug tests. Excellence Health Inc., a Las Vegas-based health care company with about 6,000 employees, no longer drug tests people coming to work for…
Immigration Officials Raid 77 Northern California Businesses This Week
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently reported that, between Jan. 29 and Jan. 31, 77 Northern California businesses were raised. Taking place in the San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento areas, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents…
Recreational Cannabis in the Workplace: A Guide for California Employers
Although cannabis usage is now legal in the State of California, employers may still prohibit its use in the workplace. Effective in January, California legalized the “recreational” use of cannabis for adults 21 years and older. Proposition 64, the Adult Use of…
Salary History Question Off Limits on Job Applications: What Should Employers Do to Stay Compliant?
California recently joined a growing number of cities and states to pass a law that bans salary history questions. Prompted by concerns about gender- and race-based wage discrimination, the law is designed to prevent employers from using past compensation as a basis…
Blumenthal Nordrehaug and Bhowmik File a Class Action Lawsuit Against Marriott Ownership Resorts, Inc. For Allegedly Violating the California Labor Code and the FCRA
Blumenthal, Nordrehaug and Bhowmik filed a proposed class action complaint against Marriott Ownership Resorts, Inc., for allegedly failing to provide California employees with the legally required thirty-minute uninterrupted meal periods after five hours of work. The…
Walmart Class Action Says Background Checks Violate Federal Law
Walmart is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that the company violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act by using unauthorized background checks. The lead plaintiff in the case argues that the business failed to provide adequate notice of the consumer report and did…
District Court Wrestles with Interpretation of Webpage in Background Check Disclosure Lawsuit
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that employers provide prospective applicants with a disclosure before obtaining a pre-employment background check from a consumer reporting agency. This disclosure must be in a single document that consists “solely of the…







