We invite you to review our newly-posted, May 2025 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Apple...more
As we reported here, a split in authority has developed in the California Court of Appeal regarding what to do when an employer moves to compel arbitration of a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) that is “headless”—that is,...more
On April 7, 2025, the California Court of Appeal reversed a whopping $10 million verdict in favor of an employee in a sexual harassment case due to the trial judge’s improper evidentiary rulings and inappropriate comments...more
4/14/2025
/ Appeals ,
California ,
Damages ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reversal ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment
Although the threat of COVID-19 (remember that?) seems to have diminished considerably over the past five years, once upon a time in Hollywood many production companies (along with other employers) required employees to be...more
4/1/2025
/ Actors ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Appeals ,
California ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
First Amendment ,
Vaccinations
On the 100th anniversary of the Federal Arbitration Act, it is worth recalling that the law was enacted in 1925 in response to what the U.S. Supreme Court later called, in its 2011 opinion in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion,...more
3/27/2025
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Class Action ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Harassment
On February 26, 2025, in Parra Rodriguez v. Packers Sanitation, Inc., the California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District) issued the latest published decision addressing the practice of filing so-called “headless”...more
The California Court of Appeal dealt another blow to arbitration, just months after we reported the last such decision here.
This time, the Court ruled that the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and...more
2/7/2025
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII
We invite you to review our newly-posted January 2025 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law....more
In yet another attempt to avoid arbitration agreements, plaintiffs’ lawyers in the wake of the blockbuster court decisions in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana and Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc. began filing so-called...more
1/8/2025
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Class Action ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Code ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana
As we previously reported, California recently enacted AB 1076, which reinforces the state’s broad statutory ban on noncompete agreements. The law took effect on January 1, 2024, and expressly codifies Edwards v. Arthur...more
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
Summary Judgment Was Properly Granted To Employer In Whistleblower Case -
Vatalaro v. County of Sacramento, 2022 WL 1775708 (Cal. Ct. App. 2022)
Cynthia J. Vatalaro sued the county for a violation of Cal. Lab. Code §...more
On June 15, 2022, in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, Case No. 20-1573,_ U.S. _ (2022), by an 8-1 majority, the U.S. States Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts the California Supreme...more
6/24/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Iskanian v CLS Transportation ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Preemption ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS ,
State Labor Laws ,
Viking River Cruises ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana
A federal appeals court recently affirmed a summary judgment entered in favor of WinCo Foods in a class action alleging that WinCo should have reimbursed successful job applicants for the time and travel expenses they...more
6/17/2022
/ Appeals ,
California ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Pre-Employment Health Screenings ,
Reimbursements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Travel Expenses ,
Wage and Hour
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
In Michelle Roman v. Hertz Local Edition Corp., a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of California granted summary judgment in favor of Hertz, and against former employee Michelle Roman, whose...more
5/26/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
California ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
FEHA ,
Hertz ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Former UCLA Physician Can Proceed With Whistleblower Claims -
Scheer v. The Regents of the Univ. of Cal., 76 Cal. App. 5th 904 (2022) -
Arnold Scheer, M.D., M.P.H., sued the Regents of the University of California and...more
5/23/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
CAFA ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Forced Labor ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Code ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
A federal court judge pared down last year’s jaw-dropping $137 million damages award against Tesla in a racial bias lawsuit. On April 13, 2022, the judge granted Tesla’s motion for a reduction in the amount of damages in part...more
On March 17, Rover—a digital application connecting pet owners with daily pet-care providers—argued to the Ninth Circuit that it should uphold a California federal judge’s finding that a dog-sitter was properly classified as...more
California Relaxes Standard For Proving Whistleblower Claims -
Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., 12 Cal. 5th 703 (2022) -
Plaintiff Wallen Lawson, who was discharged by his employer PPG Architectural Finishes...more
3/18/2022
/ ADEA ,
California ,
Class Action ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Race Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Manicurist Can Proceed With Hostile Work Environment Claim -
Fried v. Wynn Las Vegas, 18 F.4th 643 (9th Cir. 2021) -
Vincent Fried, a manicurist at a salon in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, was sexually propositioned by a...more
1/20/2022
/ Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hostile Environment ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Nonprofits ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Volunteers ,
Wage Statements ,
Wrongful Termination
Christmas came early this year for California employers. Bucking the trend of unrelentingly bad news for employers in the state, the California Court of Appeal has held that the default (lower) penalties found in the Labor...more
The California Court of Appeal has definitively resolved an issue that was until now somewhat ambiguous: Can volunteers in fact volunteer their time for nonprofit organizations without receiving pay or other forms of...more
1/3/2022
/ Appeals ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Class Certification ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Volunteers ,
Wage and Hour
In the latest blow against Netflix’s aggressive recruiting practices, a California appellate court has affirmed a trial court’s injunction against Netflix and in favor of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (“Fox”), thus...more
12/22/2021
/ California ,
Competition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fixed-Term Labor Contracts ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Netflix ,
No-Poaching ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Twentieth Century Fox ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)
While the California Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld arbitration agreements with class action waivers (as they must under the Federal Arbitration Act), in a now infamous (and controversial) decision from 2014, the court...more
12/21/2021
/ Arbitration ,
Certiorari ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Iskanian v CLS Transportation ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS