You were already off work and already worried about money, and then the doctor’s office said there was a fee just to fill out the form. It felt wrong. You paid it anyway, because the benefits could not start without…
“I’m not the one who’s sick.” Between 35-plus years in HR, including thousands of leave and accommodation matters, and now my own law practice, that line comes up more than almost any other. An employee’s parent, spouse, or child gets…
You asked for time off to go to your kid’s school meeting, and your manager acted like you were asking for a personal favor instead of something the law actually protects. This shows up constantly as the school year starts…
If your business has San Francisco employees, the eligibility clock you have been tracking for the city’s Paid Parental Leave Ordinance is about to change, and the change arrives on a size-based schedule that is easy to miss until it…
You heard your employer mention something about a new account for your kid, and you assumed it was just another benefits email to skim past. It might be worth more than that. Since July 4, 2026, employers have been able…
Many California SMBs outsource leave administration to a third-party administrator. The TPA receives the leave requests, issues the designation notices, tracks the entitlement, and communicates with the employee. The employer writes a check and assumes the compliance obligation has been…
“It is just a tuition perk; we are fine” is what an owner says about an educational-assistance program that is operating outside §127’s structure. Internal Revenue Code §127 lets an employer exclude up to $5,250 per year in qualified educational…
“They signed the clawback, so we’re covered” is a sentence that stopped being true in California on January 1, 2026. AB 692 took effect on that date. It added Business and Professions Code §16608 and Labor Code §926, and it…
Most California small employers know the FEHA list — race, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and the rest. Family structure is not on it, so the assumption is that hiring decisions, leave requests, and bereavement policies do…
Belief: once leave is exhausted, the decision is automatic. It isn’t. Leave issues always require a documented process. When an employee requests additional time, modified return‑to‑work, or another adjustment tied to a medical condition, the employer must engage in an…
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