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Carolyn Rashby

Carolyn Rashby provides business-focused advice and counsel to companies navigating the constantly evolving and overlapping maze of federal, state, and local employment requirements. She conducts workplace investigations and cultural assessments, leads audits regarding employee classification, wage and hour, and I-9 compliance, advises on employment issues arising in corporate transactions, and provides strategic counsel to clients on a wide range of workplace matters, including harassment and #MeToo issues, wage and hour, worker classification, employee accommodations, termination decisions, employment agreements, trade secrets, restrictive covenants, employee handbooks, and personnel policies. Her approach is preventive, while recognizing the need to set clients up for the best possible defense should disputes arise.

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California non-compete law has just been shaken-up—and the ripples are likely to travel across the country. For decades and save for narrow exceptions, California Business and Professions Code § 16600 has made post-employment non-competes unenforceable due to their potential to unduly restrain an individual’s business or profession. Effective January 1, 2024, however, Senate Bill 699 (“SB 699”) drastically expands both the protections and the reach of California’s prohibition on employee non-competes.

Specifically, SB 699:

  • prohibits an employer or former employer from even attempting to enforce a contract that is void under Section 16600;
  • grants current, former, and even prospective employees a private right of action for damages and injunctive relief—and to recover attorney’s fees and costs; and
  • applies to all non-competes “regardless of where and when the contract was signed.”

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Continue Reading Will California’s SB 699 Shake Up Non-Compete Law Everywhere?

In its decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina[1] issued on June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court held that the undergraduate admissions programs of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violate the standards…

As we discussed in a previous post, effective January 1, 2023, California employers must include pay scales in job postings, and a similar bill in New York was awaiting signature by Governor Kathy Hochul. The California Labor Commissioner has now issued guidance to assist employers in complying with the new law, and the New York State bill was signed into law on December 21, 2022 and is set to take effect on September 17, 2023.…

Continue Reading Update on California and New York Pay Transparency Laws

As interest rates rise and the threat of a recession looms, many employers are beginning to struggle with balancing the cost of maintaining their workforce with an expected decrease in profits. The frequent result of such a balancing act is a mass layoff. While a reduction in workforce may be inevitable, below are options that employers can consider to try to avoid that outcome. For all of these alternatives, employers should apply any changes consistently across the workforce to avoid claims of inequity or discrimination.…

Continue Reading Avoiding Layoffs In an Uncertain Economy

To promote pay transparency and equity, an increasing number of states and localities are requiring employers to disclose salary data in job advertisements or postings.  The trend started in Colorado in 2021, and now a number of other jurisdictions have followed suit, including New York City and the states of California and Washington.  The New York City law took effect on November 1, 2022, and the California and Washington laws go into effect on January 1, 2023.  Similar laws have recently been enacted in other areas as well, including Jersey City, New Jersey (effective June 15, 2022), the City of Ithaca, New York (effective September 1, 2022), and Westchester County, New York (effective November 6, 2022).

This post will provide an overview of the New York City, California, and Washington laws, and discuss steps that employers can take to comply with the new requirements.…

Continue Reading New Pay Transparency Laws Taking Effect

The City and County of San Francisco (the “City”) has significantly amended its Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance (“FFWO”), which gives employees the right to make a written request for a flexible or predictable working arrangement to allow them to balance family caregiving responsibilities. The amended FFWO, which took effect on July 12, 2022, loosens employee eligibility requirements and expands employer obligations, including by providing that employers must provide a flexible or predictable work arrangement upon request unless the arrangement would impose an undue hardship on the employer. The FFWO continues to cover employers that have 20 or more employees and maintain a physical business location in San Francisco.…

Continue Reading San Francisco Expands Flexible and Predictable Workplace Requirements

A new law signed by President Biden brings significant changes to employers’ ability to require arbitration of certain disputes with employees and could lead to an increase in sexual assault and sexual harassment claims against employers in court.  On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed into law the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021” (the “Act”).  The Act amends the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to provide that predispute arbitration agreements and predispute joint-action waivers relating to sexual assault and sexual harassment disputes are unenforceable at the election of the person or class representative alleging the conduct.  The Act took effect immediately upon signing.
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Continue Reading New Law Ends Mandatory Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Claims

In a development that will sound familiar to employers, California has reinstated the requirement, which had expired last fall, to make available to employees up to 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (“Supplemental Sick Leave”).  The new measure, Senate Bill (“SB”) 114, was signed by Governor Newsom on February 9, 2022, and the requirement to provide the new sick leave went into effect on February 19. Employees may use the new sick leave retroactive to January 1, 2022.
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Continue Reading California Reinstates and Updates COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for 2022