Last month, in Jane Doe v. Alkiviades David, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury returned a verdict in a sexual assault and harassment case in the amount of $900 million. This verdict is one of the largest ever for a...more
8/9/2024
/ Arbitration ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Jury Instructions ,
Jury Trial ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Punitive Damages ,
Retaliation ,
Risk Management ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment
Employee Who Wanted To Donate/Freeze Her Eggs Was Not Protected By Pregnancy Statute -
Paleny v. Fireplace Products U.S., Inc., 103 Cal. App. 5th 199 (2024) -
Erika Paleny alleged harassment, discrimination and...more
8/1/2024
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Fraud ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Lyft ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Whistleblowers
Renee Vines filed an action against his former employer alleging discrimination and harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) based on his race and age; that he was retaliated against when he was...more
Does the First Amendment right to free speech permit an employer to hire or fire an employee based on race? On its face, the proposition may seem absurd, especially as we approach the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act...more
4/11/2024
/ Affirmative Defenses ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Appeals ,
Civil Rights Act ,
FEHA ,
First Amendment ,
Gender Identity ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Title VII
A newly enacted, under-the-radar statute in California could undermine efforts by employers to challenge the expert opinion testimony regarding alleged emotional distress offered by employees at trial.
In many if not most...more
1/17/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Burden of Proof ,
California ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Expert Testimony ,
Harassment ,
New Legislation ,
Psychiatrists ,
Retaliation ,
Wrongful Termination
When Congress passed and President Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (“the Act”) last year, we predicted it was just the beginning of an all-out federal assault on...more
8/23/2023
/ ADEA ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Labor Code ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment
The California Supreme Court has held that an employee who makes a whistleblower complaint to his or her employer may bring a retaliation claim under the whistleblower statute (California Labor Code § 1102.5(b)) even if the...more
California is considering a new law (Assembly Bill 331), also known as the Automated Decision Systems Accountability Act. Modeled after the Biden Administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights (whitehouse.gov), AB 331...more
Killgore v. SpecPro Prof’l Servs., LLC, 51 F.4th 973 (9th Cir. 2022) -
While consulting for an environmental project for the United States Army Reserve Command, Aaron Killgore believed he was being required to prepare an...more
Espinoza v. Superior Court, 83 Cal. App. 5th 761 (2022) -
Rosa M. Quincoza Espinoza sued her former employer, Centinela Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre West, LLC, for discrimination and retaliation. The employer filed a...more
Allen v. Staples, Inc., 84 Cal. App. 5th 188 (2022) -
Joyce Allen worked at Staples as a field sales director (FSD) reporting to area sales vice president Bruce Trahey; FSD Charles R. Narlock also reported to Trahey. As...more
As we have previously reported, jury verdicts in employment cases have continued to skyrocket in recent months, and there is no sign they are leveling off. Late last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded a total of...more
6/6/2022
/ Compensatory Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Internal Reporting ,
Jury Trial ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Punitive Damages ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment
The California Supreme Court has resolved an inconsistency that has divided the courts as to the proper evidentiary standard necessary to prove a whistleblower retaliation claim....more
2/10/2022
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Burden of Proof ,
CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
Evidence ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Reform ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
As we recently reported, California juries continue to award massive verdicts to employees with alarming regularity. And, just in time for the holidays, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury upped the ante on Thursday, handing a...more
Nuño v. California State Univ., 47 Cal. App. 5th 799 (2020) -
Anthony Nuño, an assistant college professor, represented himself in this lawsuit against California State University, Bakersfield, in which he alleged...more
Pinter-Brown v. The Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 2020 WL 1950808 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) -
The California Court of Appeal reversed a $13 million judgment that was entered against UCLA in favor of one of its former...more
Today, the California Court of Appeal reversed a blockbuster $13 million judgment that was entered against UCLA in favor of one of its former professors of medicine, Dr. Lauren Pinter-Brown. Dr. Pinter-Brown sued for alleged...more
Doe v. Department of Corr. & Rehab., 2019 WL 6907515 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019) -
John Doe, who worked as a psychologist at Ironwood State Prison, alleged discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a disability; Doe...more
In this episode of The Proskauer Brief, partners Tony Oncidi and Kate Gold discuss California’s most recent legislative response to the #MeToo movement. These developments include new restrictions on confidentiality and...more
12/2/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Retaliation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Legislatures ,
Statute of Limitations
Court Upholds Whistleblower Verdicts In Favor Of Fired Parking Ticket Hearing Examiners -
Hawkins v. City of Los Angeles, 40 Cal. App. 5th 384 (2019) -
Todd Hawkins and Hyung Kim were terminated from their jobs as...more
11/11/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
DFEH ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
FEHA ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Code ,
McDonalds ,
Minimum Wage ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tipped Employees ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
California Supreme Court Invalidates Agreement To Arbitrate Wage Disputes -
OTO, LLC v. Kho, 2019 WL 4065524 (Cal. S. Ct. 2019) -
In the most recent chapter of the ongoing saga regarding the enforceability of...more
9/18/2019
/ Amended Complaints ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Bill Cosby ,
CA Supreme Court ,
CAFA ,
Cal Code of Civil Procedure ,
Defamation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Free Speech ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Obesity ,
Race Discrimination ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Vicarious Liability ,
Wage and Hour
We’re delighted to report that we secured two summary judgments in two separate alleged discrimination cases on behalf of our client Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in matters that were pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court....more
In a decision unsurprising to anyone familiar with what California juries have been up to lately, fast-food titan Jack in the Box was ordered to pay $15.4 million (including a staggering $10 million in punitive damages) last...more
6/21/2019
/ Age Discrimination ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Jury Awards ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Negligent Supervision ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment
Just another day in paradise in Los Angeles… Unless you happen to be an employer. Continuing the recent spate of multi-million dollar verdicts, an LA jury awarded a former police officer $7 million on her sex discrimination...more
A Los Angeles jury awarded more than $11 million to two former employees who claimed they were sexually harassed and retaliated against for complaining about the harassment.
Megan Meadowcroft and Amber Brown, who worked at...more