Complimentary Webinar Invitation: Changes California Employers Need to Make by January 1, 2027

It's that time of year again, when California and many other states have enacted new employment laws going into effect January 1, 2027, and employers need to update their policies and practices to be ready for the new year. Importantly, California-based employers must update their policies and practices for new state/local laws in all of their employee city/state work locations.

The webinar covers a wide range of important new legal developments, including:

• Leaves of Absence: Expansion of California bereavement leave rights to include the death of a designated person; San Francisco's expansion of employees eligible for employer-paid parental leave.
• Stay or Pay Requirements: Major changes to California and New York prohibitions of agreements that employees repay their employers for monetary amounts if their employment terminates, affecting common arrangements including sign-on bonuses, relocation benefits, educational assistance, and visa-related costs.
• EEO: California's new expansive statutory definition of prohibited sex discrimination; reduction of time to respond to EEOC claims from 30 to 15 days.
• Arbitration Agreements: Amendment to the California Arbitration Act to render unenforceable agreements to arbitrate claims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other claims excluded from the Federal Arbitration Act.
• Minimum Pay Requirements: Increased California pay requirements for exempt computer software professionals, other exempt positions, and non-exempt (hourly) employees.
• Layoffs: Changes to the California WARN Act.
• Workplace Surveillance: New California law providing employees with the right to leave behind workplace surveillance tools when entering a bathroom.
• Automated Decision Systems: California's "No Robo Bosses Act" imposes restrictions and notice requirements with respect to reliance upon automated computational processes for termination and disciplinary decisions.
• Workplace Violence Restraining Orders: New California law expands the ability of employers to obtain a temporary restraining order when harassment, unlawful violence, or a credible threat of violence is directed at a workplace or location.
• Other States: Changes employers must make to comply with new laws if they have employees working in a variety of other states, including Connecticut (sick leave), Colorado (paid jury duty leave), Hawaii (expansion of family leave effective July 1, 2026), Illinois (employer-paid jury duty leave, reasonable accommodation of menopause-related condition), New York (personnel files), Virginia (sick leave), and Washington State (paid lactation breaks, job protection for Washington State Paid Family and Medical Leave).

Attendees will receive detailed PowerPoint slides and several additional written handouts. Time will also be reserved for answering attendee questions.

Your presenters will be attorneys Ray Hixson, Brian Nagatani, Alexa Morgan, and Jay Wang who are partners of the law firm Hixson Nagatani LLP. Hixson Nagatani LLP advises and represents employers in a wide range of employment law matters. The firm provides advice and counsel on proactive steps that employers should take to ensure compliance and minimize legal risks, including with respect to creating and updating personnel policies and practices, personnel-related forms, risk assessment of contemplated personnel actions, and managers' legal training. The firm also defends employers against actual and threatened employee claims, including claims made in state and federal courts, arbitration, and government agencies.

Continuing education credits: This program has been submitted to the HR Certification Institute and SHRM for review. This program qualifies for 1.0 hours of MCLE for California attorneys.

Date & Time:

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2026

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. PST

Registration fee: This webinar is free of charge.

We anticipate that this event may sell out, and recommend registering as early as possible. Attendance in the webinar is limited to 1,000.