Industry Updates

THE EQUAL Employment Opportunity Commission has issued updated workplace harassment guidance for employers, increasing possible exposure to employee-initiated lawsuits. These are federal guidelines, meaning that they open a new avenue for potential employment practices liability exposure. Employers should understand this new guidance to ensure they don’t run afoul of the law and risk being sued …

Continue reading “July 2024 – New Rulemaking – EEOC Issues Updated Workplace Harassment Guidance”

CALIFORNIA INSURANCE Commissioner Ricardo Lara on May 31 approved all of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s recommended changes to class codes for some electronics manufacturing sectors, as well as increases to the wage thresholds for construction industry dual classifications. The following changes will take effect for policies incepting on or after Sept. 1, 2024: …

Continue reading “July 2024 – Workers’ Compensation – Changes Coming to Electronics, Dual-Wage Class Codes”

CHANGES ARE again coming to Fed-OSHA’s Hazardous Communications Standard, which governs the handling of chemicals and other dangerous substances. OSHA’s final rule, which takes effect July 19, 2024, will bring the standard in line with the latest update to the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. The update revises criteria …

Continue reading “July 2024 – Fed-OSHA Rulemaking – OSHA Updates HazCom Standard”

THE CAL/OSHA Standards Board has voted to approve new heat illness prevention regulations that will require some workplaces to make significant adjustments to their operations in order to comply, possibly starting early this summer. The vote has been challenged, and at the last minute, the California Department of Finance withdrew its approval of the regulatory …

Continue reading “July 2024 – Indoor Heat Illness Rules Coming Soon”

THE NEWEST cyber and financial fraud threat facing businesses is deepfake technology, which criminals are using to extract money from unsuspecting accounts payable personnel. A finance worker at a multinational company in Hong Kong was duped into transferring $25 million to criminals who had used deepfake technology to pose as the business’s chief financial officer …

Continue reading “April 2024 – Protecting Your Data – Deepfake Technology Used to Fool Employees”

WITH THE California commercial property market increasingly stressed with fewer and fewer insurers willing to write policies in the Golden State, the state insurance commissioner has floated a plan aimed at easing the crisis. The main thrust of the new proposal is to make it easier for insurers to get their rate-hike requests approved, efforts …

Continue reading “April 2024 – Commercial Property Insurance – New Rules Aim to Ease Availability Crisis”

EFFORTS ARE afoot to create new laws and regulations that would require California employers to include the opioid overdose medication Narcan in their first aid kits. Cal/OSHA’s Standards Board has received a petition from a safety group asking it to create new regulations requiring workplaces to stock medications that can reverse opioid overdoses. On the …

Continue reading “April 2024 – Workplace Safety – Overdose Meds May Be Coming to Your First Aid Kit”

THE WORKERS’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California will recommend changes to class codes for some electronics manufacturing sectors, as well as increases to the wage thresholds for construction industry dual classifications. The move comes after the Rating Bureau’s governing committee unanimously approved proposed changes, which will be sent in March to the state insurance …

Continue reading “April 2024 – Worker’s Comp – Electronics, Construction Class Code Changes”

THE CALIFORNIA Workers’ Compensation Uniform Statistical Reporting Plan requires that employers report small, medical-only first-aid claims to their insurance carrier.   Many employers fail to report these claims as they consider them too small since the worker doesn’t lose any time from work and they don’t have to go to a doctor. Under Rating Bureau …

Continue reading “January 2024 – Workers’ Compensation – Rules on First Aid Claims Reporting”

THE EQUAL Employment Opportunity Commission continues seeing a steady flow of complaints for one of the more common forms of workplace bias — age discrimination.   The number of court filings the EEOC made under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) in fiscal year 2023 was more than double that of fiscal year 2022. …

Continue reading “January 2024 – Human Resources – Age Discrimination Cases Up; Set Strong Policies”