Hunton Retail Law Resource

As California continues to advance its reopening efforts, the state’s retailers are grappling with rapid changes to the law surrounding their operations and the management of their workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.  One area that has seen frequent change is the sick leave landscape in California.  While the last statewide California sick leave law (applying to businesses with 500+ employees) expired on December 31, 2020, the state has now created a new sick leave entitlement that will create new challenges for retailers in the Golden State.

As previously reported in the Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives Blog, last Thursday the California Supreme Court ruled that employees must be paid for time spent undergoing security checks before leaving work. The ruling comes two years after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sought guidance on this issue under California law in the case of Amanda Frlekin v. Apple Inc.  The question presented to the California Supreme Court was:  Is time spent on the employer’s premises waiting for, and undergoing, required exit searches of packages, bags, or personal technology devices ...