TheCalifornia Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), enacted in 2018, creates new consumer rights relating to the access to, deletion of, and sharing of personal information that is collected by businesses. The CCPA took effect on January 1, 2020 and is one of the most significant regulations overseeing the data-collection practices of companies...
When you wake up in the morning, what is the first app you open on your phone? Most likely, if you are not checking your emails, you are tuning into Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, or other social media platforms. While most people use social networks for leisure activities and...
On Wednesday, May 29, 2019, the California State Assembly passed AB-5, a bill that impacts the classification of workers, making it more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors instead of employees. The bill instructs businesses to determine worker classification by using the “ABC test” from the 2018...
Just before the world celebrated May Day, an international day honoring workers, the California Supreme Court changed how independent contractors are classified under state law. This law may affect many industries that routinely rely on the independent contractor classification for its workers. In deciding Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, the...
In 2010, Maryland became the first state to authorize benefit corporations. Since then, thirty-one states, including California, have passed benefit corporation laws, making it the most successful social purpose entity in terms of its widespread acceptance amongst companies and legislatures. The primary aspect of the benefit corporation which makes it...
Last week, a Texas federal judge halted the implementation of a federal overtime rule, which would have substantially increased the federal salary threshold for overtime pay exemptions. The Texas court granted a national injunction – which is a legal term basically meaning ‘maintaining the status quo’ –preventing the salary threshold...
If you are a business owner with multiple locations or you’re looking to expand your current operation to new locations, it is important to know if you’re considered a franchise or not. It does not matter what label the parties to an agreement put on a transaction (i.e., license, joint...
By 2023, California’s minimum wage will reach $15.00 an hour, making it the highest minimum wage in the country.[1] While the benefits and burdens of this increase are mostly speculative, the empirical examples of wage increases in West Coast cities may illuminate an otherwise murky future for small businesses. Like...
According to critics, California is one of America’s worst states for business incorporation due to its economy, tax system, and highly regulated environment. Just this past month, in the CNBC’s 2016 ranking of all 50 states according to “60 measures of competitiveness,” California was placed at No. 32, and in his “Rich States,...
This year’s Supreme Court docket could mean a great deal to trademark attorneys—and the National Football League team, Washington Redskins. In re Tam is currently pending before the Supreme Court, and this case addresses the constitutionality of a part of trademark law—§2(a) of the Lanham Act—that denies registration to marks...
On January 1, 2016, a new California law went into effect that authorizes the use of a transfer on death deed (“TOD deed”) to allow an owner of certain types of real property to transfer that property to a named beneficiary that is revocable up until the grantor’s death. This...
There is no doubt that the rapid advancement in technology over the last thirty years has been for the better. We have access to all the world’s information with the click of a button, and can do things our ancestors would have deemed nothing short of impossible. However, as new...
