Association Blog

Home Furnishings Association members in California must pay attention to new state labor laws taking effect Jan. 1. The laws will affect recruiting and hiring; discrimination, harassment and retaliation protections; leaves of absence and benefits; workplace safety; arbitration; privacy; and wage and hour matters. CalChamber has provided a white paper detailing these changes. The new laws include: AB 5 classifies more workers as employees rather than as contractors. AB 9 extends from one year to three years the statute of limitations for filing claims of workplace discrimination, harassment and retaliation. AB 25 provides that employee data, such as information gathered for purposes

An article in The Wall Street Journal about the impact of tariffs on furniture retailers included comments from Home Furnishings Association members Matt Schultz and Ed Menapace. The report by Katy Stech Ferek, published Nov. 11, was headlined, “Furniture retailers start to feel tariff pain more acutely.” “’This has been very challenging for the furniture industry as a whole because of the huge exposure that it has to China,’ said Peter Keith, a Piper Jaffray analyst who added that the discretionary nature of furniture purchases means the industry faces more potential for tariff-related financial difficulties than many other businesses,” Ferek

The Home Furnishings Association welcomes the Netflix documentary series “Broken,” which shines light on unsafe products, including ready-to-assemble furniture that can tip over on children. “People should know that children have been injured, and in some cases killed, by bedroom furniture that’s fallen over when children have tried to climb up drawers or pulled on it in other ways,” Sharron Bradley, the association’s chief executive officer, said. “Parents should always fasten this kind of furniture to fixed surfaces such as walls or floors to prevent accidents.” Netflix says, “This investigative docuseries shows how negligence and deceit in the production and