California Employers Must Provide Paid Sick Leave Starting Next Year
September 11, 2014 - 10:09 AM
By: Robin E. Largent
As expected, yesterday Governor Brown signed the paid sick leave bill (AB 1522) into law, making California the second state to mandate that employers provide paid sick leave to their employees (Connecticut was the first). This means that starting in July 2015, California employers generally will have to provide their employees with at least 3...
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S.F. Bay Area Employers Must Provide Commuter Benefits by September 30
April 28, 2014 - 3:00 PM
By: Robin E. Largent
The Bay Area Commuter Benefits Program, SB 1339, was enacted in 2012 to allow two local Bay Area agencies—the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District—to jointly adopt a commuter benefit ordinance requiring employers to offer commuter benefits to covered employees. These agencies have now adopted a...
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Open Enrollment Approaching: Should We Be Concerned About Health Reforms?
November 7, 2011 - 2:31 PM
By: Mark S. Spring
Many employers are about to embark on the annual open enrollment period where they modify their health benefits (or at least consider doing so) and undergo the process of enrolling employees for the 2012 calendar year. Certain provisions of Obamacare (officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or "PPACA" for short), have...
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California Employers Must Now Provide Health Benefits for Four Months for Pregnancy Disability
October 7, 2011 - 5:52 AM
By: Robin E. Largent
This week, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 299, legislation requiring California employers to continue group health coverage to employees on pregnancy disability leave for up to four months. California employers with five or more employees have long been required to comply with California's law permitting employees disabled by pregnancy to take...
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Is Sabbatical a Form of Vested Vacation Benefits?
August 8, 2011 - 2:02 PM
By: Robin E. Largent
Employers who offer paid sabbaticals to their long-term employees probably should not be sued, but apparently they are not immune. In Paton v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., the plaintiff resigned his employment with AMD and then brought a class action against AMD alleging that the company failed to pay out earned but unused sabbatical pay....
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Supreme Court Reaffirms That Summary Plan Documents Do Not Create Benefit Rights Different From Formal Plan Terms
May 17, 2011 - 9:34 AM
Some pundits are calling CIGNA Corp. v. Amara, et al., decided May 16, 2011 by the United States Supreme Court,a very important case changing the landscape of employee benefits litigation. It has been described as eliminating the requirement that employees prove detrimental reliance on miscommunications about benefit plan terms in order to obtain relief. We read...
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Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Legislation Passes Assembly Judiciary Committee
April 29, 2011 - 9:21 AM
By: Robin E. Largent
Paid sick leave legislation has been proposed and defeated in recent legislative sessions in California. This legislation has been proposed again this year, and just passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee largely along party lines. The proposed legislation, whichwould require California employers to providepaid sick days to employees (otherthan those covered by collective bargaining agreements)is...
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California Not in Step With Federal Tax Law for Adult Dependent Coverage
January 24, 2011 - 11:02 AM
Asposted last week, the Internal Revenue Service has clarified the tax breaks provided to employees covering children under the age of 27 on their employers' health benefit plans. Unfortunately, the California Legislature failed to pass AB 1178 which would have provided the same federal tax breakunder California tax law. As a result, California employers must impute income...
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