EdLawConnect Blog

In November 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published its new I-9 form (click here).  Employers may immediately begin using the new form for new hires and reverifications, and must stop using the old form (identified as version “03/08/13” in the lower left corner) by January 21, 2017.

All employers — public and private — must complete a Form I-9 to document verification of the ...

With studies now showing that “sudden cardiac arrest” is one of the leading causes of death for young people under the age of 25 and student-athletes at a greater risk due to more frequent physical exertion, school districts have been looking for ways to protect student-athletes from physical harm and to reduce potential legal liability.  A new law now addresses this issue.

In the fall of 2016, the ...

On November 22, 2016, the State Chancellor's Office for California Community Colleges and the Statewide EEO and Diversity Advisory Committee published a new EEO and Diversity Best Practices Handbook.  This Handbook provides examples of community colleges which have implemented each of the nine “multiple methods” of promoting Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”).  The full Handbook containing ...

On November 22, 2016, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas halted implementation the Department of Labor’s rule amending the salary basis test for overtime exemptions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule was scheduled to take effect December 1, 2016.  (Nevada v. DOL (E.D.Tex. 11/22/16) No. 4:16-cv-00731.) The court granted a preliminary injunction, which temporarily delays the ...

The Political Reform Act imposes limits on gifts and payments received by local elected officers and designated employees of local government agencies—individuals who are required to file statements of economic interests (aka Form 700) under a local agency’s conflict of interest code.

A “gift” is a payment or other benefit that confers a personal benefit for which the official or employee did not ...

With much media fanfare, in July, 2015 the advocacy group Students Matter filed a lawsuit against 13 large school districts, alleging these districts are failing to comply with the provision of state law regarding the use of scores on state-mandated assessments in teacher evaluations.  AALRR represented five of the districts.  Yesterday Superior Court Judge Barry Goode ruled in favor of school districts in ...

On August 29, 2016, a California Court of Appeal backed away from an earlier a decision that employers must accommodate employees based on their association with individuals with a disability. (Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express (Aug. 29, 2016) 2016 WL 45066089.) Before the court’s groundbreaking holding in April 2016, as reported in this post, no court had held that the Fair Employment ...

New regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor require employers (public and private) to post a revised Federal Minimum Wage poster and a revised Federal Employee Polygraph Act poster effective August 1, 2016.

The Federal Minimum Wage Poster now includes a section describing the rights of nursing mothers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also discusses independent contractor misclassification ...

At the May 25, 2016, State Allocation Board (SAB) meeting, the SAB authorized, for the first time ever, the imposition of Level III Developer Fees finding that no state funds were available for new construction projects.  On May 26, 2016, in response to California Building Industry Association (CBIA) filing a Petition for Writ of Mandate challenging the SAB’s finding that state funds are not available for ...

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was enacted in 1991 to lessen the impact of calling practices that invade consumer privacy and threaten public safety.  One such intrusive calling practice is known as a “robocall.”  Robocalls are made either with an automated telephone dialing system (autodialer) or with a prerecorded or artificial voice.  The TCPA and its implementing rules prohibit ...