Labor & Employment Law Blog

In an age discrimination case filed by a federal Department of Veterans Affairs employee, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal employee or applicant may establish that an adverse personnel action took place by showing that their age was simply a “motivating factor” in the federal employer’s decision.  Babb v. Wilkie 589 U.S. __ (2020).

On January 31, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced and made available a new version of Form I-9 (Rev. 10/21/2019), Employment Eligibility Verification.  Employers may begin using the new form as of January 31, 2020 but must use this form exclusively no later than May 1, 2020 for all new employees or where any reverification applies.  The previous version,  which has a revision date of “Rev. 07/17/2017 N,” will be invalid as of April 30, 2020. After April 30, 2020, employers who fail to use the new Form I-9 may be subject to penalties under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

On August 30, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed urgency legislation to extend the deadline to provide certain employees required sexual harassment training until January 1, 2021.  (Senate Bill 778).  Last year, Senate Bill 1343 amended Government Code section 12950.1 to require employers with five or more employees to provide two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to all supervisory employees and one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to all nonsupervisory employees by January 1, 2020.