Seyfarth Synopsis: On January 18, 2024, in Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., the California Supreme Court addressed the split in appellate authority as to whether trial courts have inherent authority to strike a PAGA...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Court of Appeal found an employer liable under Labor Code section 2802 for employee work-from-home operating expenses, despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2020 stay-at-home order, which precluded...more
7/21/2023
/ Business Expenses ,
California ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Code ,
Reimbursements ,
Remote Working ,
State Labor Laws ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals once again has asked the California Supreme Court for assistance in determining important questions of California law. Last week, the Ninth Circuit certified three...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: An unpublished Ninth Circuit opinion has held that an employer need not pay employees for time spent undergoing government-required security checks en route to their worksite within the Los Angeles...more
With a new President comes a shift in the balance of power at the National Labor Relations Board. To start, shortly after President Biden took office in January, the NLRB’s sole Democrat, Chairman McFerran, issued several...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: California agricultural employers won big before the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday. In Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, the Court deemed unconstitutional a California labor regulation which...more
7/1/2021
/ Agricultural Workers ,
Cedar Point Nursery v Hassid ,
Farm Workers ,
Farms ,
Fifth Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Just Compensation ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Unions ,
United Farm Workers
Seyfarth Synopsis: California agricultural employers won big before the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday. In Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, the Court deemed unconstitutional a California labor regulation which...more
6/30/2021
/ Agricultural Workers ,
Cedar Point Nursery v Hassid ,
Farm Workers ,
Farms ,
Fifth Amendment ,
First Amendment ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Just Compensation ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Unions ,
United Farm Workers
The National Labor Relations Board’s sole Democrat, Chairman Lauren McFerran, has issued two new dissents that portend how a Biden Board likely will reverse precedent established by the Trump Board. This update is our fourth...more
Once again, the National Labor Relations Board’s sole Democrat, Chairman McFerran, has issued a dissent that sheds light on how a Biden-Board likely will reverse precedent established by the Trump-Board. This update is our...more
As the National Labor Relations Board transitions from a Republican-majority to a Democrat-majority, the Board’s sole Democrat, Chairman McFerran, continues to provide a window into what the future is likely to look like...more
As the National Labor Relations Board transitions from a Republican-majority to a Democrat-majority, the Board’s sole Democrat, Chairman McFerran, continues to provide a window into what the future is likely to look like...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: When a new President is about to shift the balance of power at the National Labor Relations Board, a Board dissent can foreshadow how the newly constituted Board will consider a similar issue. Such is the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: During the COVID-19 crisis, the NLRB (for the most part) has truncated its operations to those operations and functions that can proceed without threatening the health of its employees or the public. ...more
UPDATE: The new rule published in the Federal Register on December 18, 2019 was to take effect on April 16, 2020, but that effective date has been moved back to June 1. 2020 by the NLRB....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On the heels of last week’s federal court order temporarily blocking enforcement of AB 5 by the State of California, a California state court in Los Angeles reached the same conclusion, finding the Federal...more
1/13/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Motor Carriers ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Retroactive Application ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO ,
Trucking Industry ,
Trucking Regulations ,
Wage and Hour
Seyfarth Synopsis: Set to take effect on January 1, 2020, AB 51 would make it unlawful for employers to impose arbitration agreements on employees as a condition of employment, even if employees are permitted to opt out. As...more
1/6/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Regulations ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Restraining Orders ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
TRO
Seyfarth Synopsis: On December 13, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) announced the final rule amending the procedures used for elections to determine whether employees desire to be represented by a labor...more
12/20/2019
/ Ambush Election Rules ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit has held that, under federal and California law, college student-athletes are not employees of either the NCAA or the Pac-12, the regulatory bodies that govern college sports....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: An important issue for colleges and universities is whether faculty are “managerial” employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and thus precluded from union organizing. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On December 1, 2017, the newly-confirmed General Counsel of the National Relations Board, Peter Robb, issued a memorandum to the NLRB regional offices listing legal issues that should be submitted for...more
12/15/2017
/ Columbia University ,
Jurisdiction ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Northwestern University ,
Pacific Lutheran University ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Religious Schools ,
Section 7 ,
Student Athletes ,
Teaching Assistants ,
Unfair Labor Practices
Seyfarth Synopsis: On December 1, 2017, the newly-confirmed General Counsel of the National Relations Board, Peter Robb, issued a memorandum to the NLRB regional offices listing legal issues that should be submitted for...more
12/14/2017
/ Columbia University ,
Employee Definition ,
Jurisdiction ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Northwestern University ,
Pacific Lutheran University ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Religious Schools ,
Section 7 ,
Student Athletes ,
Teaching Assistants ,
Unfair Labor Practices
Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 27, 2017, the Ninth Circuit held that using prior salary alone may support differences in compensation under the Equal Pay Act as a “factor other than sex” if using prior salary was “reasonable”...more
5/5/2017
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sex Discrimination ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
Seyfarth Synopsis: Congressional Committee Head Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Subcommittee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) ask NLRB General Counsel Griffin to either immediately rescind his January 31 report regarding the purported...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a last minute attempt to leave his mark on the NLRB, the Board’s outgoing General Counsel issued a report attempting to expand the rights of university faculty and students, including scholarship...more
2/2/2017
/ Colleges ,
Columbia University ,
Faculty ,
Jurisdiction ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Northwestern University ,
Pacific Lutheran University ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Religious Schools ,
Student Athletes ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Universities
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit has suggested it might upset longstanding “on call” practices by making California employers liable for “reporting time” pay to employees who phone in ahead of their schedule, only to find...more
10/20/2016
/ Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Legislative Agendas ,
On-Call Employees ,
Report For Work Pay ,
Retail Workers ,
Retail Workers Bill of Rights ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders