The California Supreme Court just ruled that public employers are not subject to civil penalties under the state’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). In a pivotal decision, the court held that public entities,...more
An appeals court recently sided with a medical school by holding that it did not violate a medical resident’s due process rights in dismissing her from its residency program. In reaching this decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit...more
A California Court of Appeal recently delivered valuable guidance for healthcare employers who had or continue to have vaccination mandates. In Hodges v. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the court concluded that a hospital did...more
Fisher Phillips’ COVID-19 Employment Litigation Tracker continues to report that the healthcare industry is the hardest hit by COVID-19 employment litigation. As of the beginning of June, more than one in five of every...more
6/4/2021
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Retaliation ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the healthcare industry is understandably fraught with unease and uncertainty. This, coupled with the ubiquity of social media, creates challenges for healthcare providers facing public...more
8/6/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defamation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
First Amendment ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Online Reviews ,
Physicians ,
Reputation Management ,
Social Media ,
Vendors
It is no surprise that COVID-19 whistleblower lawsuits are being filed against healthcare employers – and a recent claim filed by a former assistant director at a nursing home facility reveals ways in which healthcare...more
The California appellate courts, and the California Supreme Court, continue to weigh in on significant and compelling wage and hour issues that affect employers each day.
“Hours Worked” Under The Control Test – Going Back...more
Any avid watcher of medical dramas would tell you that a hospital always has the ability to cut ties with any doctor who is not up to snuff. (For podcast fans we highly recommend Dr. Death.) They would tell you this is...more
2/11/2019
/ Appeals ,
Best Practices ,
Business & Professions Code ,
Damages ,
Due Process ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitals ,
Lost Earnings ,
Medical Errors ,
Medical Malpractice ,
Notice Requirements ,
Patient Safety ,
Peer Review ,
Physicians ,
Professional Disciplinary Actions ,
Quality of Care Standards ,
Work Suspensions
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in Troester v. Starbucks Corporation, and departed from federal law’s more employer-friendly version of the de minimis rule, which it characterized as stuck in the...more
7/27/2018
/ CA Supreme Court ,
De Minimis Claims ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Starbucks ,
State Labor Laws ,
Timekeeping ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
In a somewhat unusual ruling last week, a California Court of Appeal announced that its previous February 2015 decision in the case of Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, which partially invalidated healthcare...more
3/7/2017
/ Appeals ,
Health Care Providers ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Labor Code ,
Nurses ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Skilled Nursing Facility ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders ,
Waivers
Employer reports of bigoted or inappropriate comments made by customers to employees or other patrons have become increasingly common for employers in all industries. In the healthcare industry, this often takes the form of a...more
Today, the California Supreme Court ruled that employers must provide their workers with duty-free rest breaks or face potentially devastating financial consequences. Most California employers know that state law generally...more
Class action lawsuits filed by interns who claim they should be classified as employees have proliferated over the last few years. In these types of cases, a large number of interns have argued that they were actually...more
Hospitals, residential-care facilities, home-health agencies, and other employers in the healthcare industry often subcontract labor through outside vendors to fill positions like travel nurses, security guards, and janitors....more