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Meal and rest period premiums

One additional hour of pay at the regular rate for a non-compliant meal or rest period.

Meal periods

A 30-minute meal period past five hours, a second past ten.

Overtime

Daily and weekly overtime, and the double-time rules.

Waiting time penalties

Up to 30 days of wages for a willful failure to pay final wages when due.

Wage statements

Required itemized wage statement contents, and payroll record access within 21 days.

Paid sick leave

Accrual, use and carryover. 40 hours or five days after SB 616.

Business expense reimbursement

Indemnity for all necessary expenditures, plus attorney's fees to recover them.

Wage theft prevention notice

Written notice of pay rate and terms at hire and on change.

California Equal Pay Act

Equal pay for substantially similar work, reaching sex, race and ethnicity.

Personnel file inspection

An employee's right to inspect their own personnel records within 30 days.

PAGA, as amended 2024

Penalties capped at 15% where all reasonable steps were taken before a notice, 30% within 60 days after.

Meal and rest periods

Industry-specific meal and rest period rules.

Fair Labor Standards Act

Federal minimum wage, overtime and child labor.

CFRA

Job-protected family and medical leave from five employees.

Pregnancy Disability Leave

Up to four months, and it does not run concurrently with CFRA.

Reproductive loss leave

Five days following a reproductive loss event.

Bereavement leave

Five days on the death of a family member.

Leave for qualifying acts of violence

Moved from the Labor Code into FEHA by AB 2499, effective January 1, 2025.

School and childcare activities leave

Time off for a child's school or childcare activities, from 25 employees.

FMLA

Federal family and medical leave, 50 employees within 75 miles.

Paid Family Leave

Wage replacement through the state. Not job protection.

FEHA (harassment)

Harassment prohibition, with no employee minimum.

Duty to prevent

Take all reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment.

Harassment standard

A single incident can suffice; these cases are rarely resolved before trial.

Harassment prevention training

Two hours supervisory, one non-supervisory, every two years, from five employees.

Prevention and correction regulation

Requires a written policy and a complaint process with six named elements, including an impartial and timely investigation by qualified personnel.

Title VII

Federal discrimination protections from 15 employees.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Disability discrimination and reasonable accommodation.

ADEA

Age discrimination from 20 employees.

Unlicensed investigation

A misdemeanor to conduct investigations for hire unlicensed, and to knowingly engage someone who is.

Licensing exemptions

Exempts an attorney acting as an attorney, and a person employed exclusively by one employer for its own affairs.

Employment record retention

Retention duties for covered personnel and employment records, including during specified proceedings.

Protected labor complaints

Protections against retaliation for specified Labor Code rights and complaints.

Whistleblower protection

Protection for specified disclosures and refusals to participate in unlawful activity.

Whistleblower burden of proof

The statutory burden framework for claims under section 1102.5.

Recording without consent

California is a two-party consent state for confidential communications.

ABC test

The default standard for employee versus independent contractor.

AB 2257 exemptions

Relationships exempt from the ABC test, which then fall to the older multifactor test.

Willful misclassification

$5,000 to $15,000 per violation; $10,000 to $25,000 for a pattern or practice.

Workplace Violence Prevention Plan

Written plan, annual training and a violent incident log, in force since July 1, 2024.

Injury and Illness Prevention Program

A written safety program for every California employer.

Workers' compensation

Coverage from the first employee. Failure to carry is a criminal offense.

Pay scale disclosure

Pay scale on job postings from 15 employees, with a three-year record retention duty.

Pay data reporting

Annual filing with the Civil Rights Department from 100 employees.

CalSavers

Retirement program mandate, expanded to employers with one employee.

Lactation accommodation

Space, break time, and a written policy that must sit in the handbook.

CFRA handbook notice

If a handbook describes other leaves, it must describe CFRA.

Cal-WARN

60-day notice from 75 employees, below the federal threshold.

Cotran v. Rollins Hudig Hall International, Inc.

Addresses the fair investigation and good-faith grounds relevant to implied-contract wrongful discharge claims.

Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc.

A reasonable, good-faith belief in compliance can preclude knowing and intentional wage statement penalties.

Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court

An employer must relieve employees of duty for a meal period, not police that they take it.

Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC

No rounding of meal punches, and non-compliant records raise a rebuttable presumption of violation.

Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions

The premium is a wage, which sets the lookback period.

Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services

Unpaid premiums are wages; additional wage statement and waiting time penalties depend on their separate statutory requirements.

United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Superior Court

Up to two premium hours a day, one for meal and one for rest, not one per missed break.

Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court

Established the ABC test, later codified.

S.G. Borello & Sons v. Dept. of Industrial Relations

The multifactor test that governs relationships exempt from ABC.

Cochran v. Schwan's Home Service

A reasonable percentage of the phone bill is owed even where the employee incurred no extra cost.

Thai v. International Business Machines Corp.

A government stay-at-home order does not excuse reimbursement.

Gattuso v. Harte-Hanks Shoppers, Inc.

A stipend is permitted only if it actually covers the necessary expense.

State Dept. of Health Services v. Superior Court

Prompt and effective corrective action can limit damages.

Guz v. Bechtel National, Inc.

Applies the burden-shifting framework, and handbook language can imply contract terms.

Harris v. City of Santa Monica

The same-decision showing limits remedies in a mixed-motive case.

Foley v. Interactive Data Corp.

Implied contract claims arising from employer conduct and policy.

Asmus v. Pacific Bell

A unilateral policy may be modified prospectively on reasonable notice.

Wellpoint Health Networks v. Superior Court

Asserting the adequacy of an investigation can waive privilege over it.

McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green

The burden-shifting framework California applies to discrimination claims.

EEOC Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues

The agency's interpretation of federal retaliation protections and prevention practices.

Q12 Meta-Analysis

The most engaged business units are 23% more profitable and 18% more productive than the least engaged, with materially lower turnover, absenteeism and safety incidents.

Occupational Fraud 2026: A Report to the Nations

2,402 cases across 143 countries, $3.4bn in total losses. Organizations lose an estimated 5% of revenue to fraud annually. Median loss $104,000, average $1.4m, median duration 12 months before detection. Owners and executives: 16% of cases, $475,000 median loss, roughly nine times employee-level losses. Tips surface 43% of cases. A formal reporting mechanism: $100,000 median loss against $150,000 without. Fraud awareness training for staff and management: $84,000 against $150,000.

State of the Global Workplace 2026

Low engagement costs the global economy roughly $10 trillion a year in lost productivity, about 9% of global GDP.