On May 27, 2022, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an order by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) denying a whistleblower award under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act...more
Last week, the Third Circuit reversed a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decision finding that FDRLST Media, publisher of online news magazine The Federalist, unlawfully threatened its employees when its Executive...more
5/31/2022
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Embedded Tweets ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Last Friday, the Los Angeles Superior Court in Crest et al. v. Padilla (“Crest”) held that Senate Bill 826 (“SB 826”), also known as the “Women on Boards” law, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit challenging the law was brought...more
Employers are more frequently relying on the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) tools to automate employment decision-making, such as software that can review resumes and “chatbots” that interview and screen job...more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on religion and requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations for employees' sincerely held religious beliefs, practices and observances....more
5/17/2022
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has voted for the third time to readopt and revise the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”), which lay out guidelines for testing, masking, and...more
5/9/2022
/ Cal-OSHA ,
California ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Public Health ,
Workplace Safety
California law requires employers to furnish a “safe and healthful” workplace to employees. Now that the line between “workplace” and “home” has been blurred for so many workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the law...more
The California Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee recently passed Senate Bill 1044, moving the legislation one step closer to a vote by the full state senate. SB 1044 would permit employees, without...more
On February 10, 2022, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks introduced Assembly Bill 1993 (“AB 1993”), which would impose COVID-19 vaccination requirements on virtually all employees and independent contractors working in California,...more
3/16/2022
/ California ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Reform ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which has responsibility for the County’s more than 10 million residents, kicked off the new year with a brand new Health Officer Order on January 5, 2022. Among other...more
1/10/2022
/ California ,
City of Los Angeles ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Workplace Safety
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)
A suit filed last week in San Diego Superior Court serves as a reminder to employers about the importance of keeping up-to-date on California’s evolving Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”)....more
Google recently suffered a blow in its ongoing National Labor Relations Board litigation, when an Administrative Law Judge appointed to rule on a discovery dispute ordered the Silicon Valley company to turn over the lion’s...more
12/6/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Evidence ,
Google ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Retaliation ,
Subpoenas ,
Unions ,
Work-Product Doctrine
Kevin Spacey’s legal troubles have taken a costly turn as the production companies behind Netflix’s House of Cards recently asked a California court to confirm an arbitration award of almost $31 million against Spacey for...more
11/30/2021
/ #MeToo ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hostile Environment ,
Legal Advice Privilege ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Privileged Communication ,
Reputation Management ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment
As anyone who has worked in a customer-facing job can tell you, dealing with difficult customers often comes with the territory. However, when customer behavior crosses a line into illegal conduct like sexual harassment, both...more