FELS Newsletter: January & February 2026

FELS Newsletter, January & February 2026

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed by Congress and signed into law last year by President Donald Trump, allows employees to deduct overtime premiums (the “half” in “time-and-a-half”) mandated by section 7 of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) from their income for federal income taxable income for tax years 2025 through […]

Effective Feb. 1, California’s Workplace Know Your Rights Act (SB 294) requires employers to provide to each employee, in a manner normally used to communicate employment-related information, an annual standalone notice of their legal rights, including workers’ compensation, immigration protections, and unionization rights, as well as a requirement for employers to maintain emergency contact information and […]

But Budget Change Proposals Hike Ag Emforcement Gov. Gavin Newsom released on Jan. 9 his proposed 2026-2027 budget, including a top-line 14% decrease in the overall budget for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the Department of Industrial Relations (Cal/OSHA). Overall expenditures for Cal/OSHA decrease from $285 million in the final 2025-2026 budget […]

Each year, employers of 11 or more employees must post Cal/OSHA’s Form 300A Annual Summary. Summaries must be posted by Feb. 1 and remain posted until April 30, in a location where workplace postings are normally made. To avoid disclosing confidential information noted on Cal/OSHA Form 300, Illness and Injury Log, employers should post only […]

After showing a 17% drop in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2024 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) showed a 4% drop in incidents for California. Nationally, SOII showed a 3.1% decline from 2023, about 2.5 million non-fatal workplace injuries and illness, the lowest total since 2003. This decline may be due […]

California’s pay data reporting for covered California employers is due May 13. As part of its efforts to advance fair pay, California mandates that employers with at least 100 employees submit a pay data report to the state Civil Rights Department. SB 1162 (2022) expanded the reporting requirement to include employees hired through labor contractors, […]

Effective Jan. 1, the City of San Diego increased its minimum wage to $17.75 for work performed within the city’s incorporated boundaries. You can refer to the City of San Diego’s official Geographic Information Systems boundary map to determine the exact areas subject to the higher city minimum wage. Employers with employees working in San Diego […]

On Dec. 29, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the standard mileage rate for business vehicle employee reimbursement for 2026 at 72.5 cents per mile, an increase of 2.5 cents per mile from 2025. You can read the IRS’s press release here.

The FELS Sacramento office often receives from FELS and Farm Bureau members calls and emails about relationships between agricultural producers and farm labor contractors (FLCs). FLCs furnish about half of hourly employees in agriculture for various tasks related to planting, cultivation, harvest, packing, processing, custom harvesting, and more. As such, FLCs furnish a critical component […]