On-Demand Webinar: 2026 California Employment Law Update (1-27-26 Webinar Recording)

We're offering this in-depth 2-hour on-demand webinar to catch you up on a wide range of important new legal developments for California employers.

We'll cover topics including:

• Updating Employee Handbooks: How employers need to update their employee handbooks to comply with changes effective in 2026, including with respect to leaves of absence policies; and, new laws in other states/cities affecting handbook policies for employers with employees working in any of those locations (including Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York City and State, Oregon, and Washington State).
• Updating Sign-On Bonus, Retention Bonus, and Other "Stay or Pay" Agreements: How a new California law requires employers to change or eliminate requirements for an employee to repay a monetary amount to an employer if they leave employment prior to a certain date. Registrants will receive a model form of agreement that may be used for sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, and relocation payments. We'll also review a similar New York State law (recently signed by the governor) that generally prohibits stay or pay provisions as a condition of employment (e.g., in an employment offer letter).
• New Mandatory Notice Requirements: Requirement for California employers to provide a detailed written notice to employees of various legal rights by February 1, 2026. We expect the California Labor Commissioner to publish a notice template before the webinar date, and we'll plan to review the template in the webinar (and provide it to registrants as a handout).
• New Personnel File Requirements: How to comply with California's new law requiring that education and training records be included in employee personnel files. Registrants will receive a model template that they may use to document compliance with sexual harassment prevention training requirements, for inclusion in employee personnel files.
• New Pay Transparency Requirements: Revision of California's pay scale disclosure requirements, and new pay transparency requirements in other states. Registrants will receive a model pay scale based upon California law.
• Wage & Hour Law Update: Review of increased pay requirements for 2026, including with respect to traditional "white collar" and computer software professional exemptions from overtime; new developments related to the limited exclusion of overtime pay and tips from federal taxes; California Court of Appeal ruling in Contreras v. Green Thumb Produce, Inc. that an employee was a protected whistleblower when they complained about the fairness of their pay, even though they did not contend that differential pay was based upon protected class status.
• California WARN Act Update: Amendments to notice requirements for mass layoffs, facility closures, or relocations covered by Cal-WARN.
• Notable Jury Verdicts: Lessons that all employers can learn from a $103 million verdict in favor of a single employee of Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., who was terminated immediately following a medical leave, and who had raised concerns internally about alleged differential treatment of older employees; and, a $32.2 million verdict against Equinox in favor of a personal trainer who claimed disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to accommodate, and failure to engage in the interactive process.

Registrations will receive a PDF handout of the presentation slides and several additional attachments. Registrants can download the program handouts by clicking the gotowebinar handouts icon after accessing the program.

This is an edited recording of a webinar presented by Ray Hixson, Brian Nagatani, Alexa Morgan, and Jay Wang on January 27, 2026. Please note that the webinar does not address changes in the law since the original program date. Please also note that the webinar provides only general information about the law, and does not constitute legal advice. Companies or individual seeking legal advice should retain counsel.

Please note that HR and attorney continuing education credits are not available for watching this recorded program.

You may access the program’s handouts by clicking the gotowebinar handouts icon after accessing the program.