Many employers have offices in multiple states, but want to have one form of employee agreement prohibiting solicitation of employees and customers. Since some state laws, namely California, may be too different to reconcile...more
In July of 2018, Dorsey updated you on the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Troester v. Starbucks Corp., where the Court rejected the federal minimis doctrine, which exempts employers from compensating employees for short...more
In his last bill signing of his final term, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law several bills affecting employers’ obligations relating to sexual harassment. Those imposing the most sweeping changes are described briefly...more
While portions of California’s Immigrant Worker Protection Act have been enjoined, employers remain subject to notice obligations. California passed a statute limiting the extent to which employers could cooperate with...more
The California Supreme Court recently confirmed that employers seeking background reports need to ensure they are in compliance with both the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) and the Consumer Credit...more
In a long-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court rejected the federal de minimis doctrine, making clear that in any instance in which employees perform “minutes of work,” before or after their shifts, that time must...more
7/31/2018
/ 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
Let’s face it. The hiring process involves mounds of regulations, disclosures, authorizations, and then more disclosures. The last thing an employer – or applicant – wants to see is a higher stack of documents filled with...more
4/26/2018
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Frito-Lay ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Waivers
On November 18, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued Enforcement Guidance on National Origin Discrimination, replacing the 2002 Compliance Manual section on the same topic. The new guidance...more
Question: Some of our retail company’s employees in California are demanding chairs to sit in while they work. Management thinks it appears unprofessional to have workers sitting, but I hear the employees might have a legal...more
4/12/2016
/ Banks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
CVS ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Job Duties ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Retailers ,
Seating ,
Suitable Seats Lawsuits ,
Totality of Circumstances Test ,
Wage Orders
Question: Our company offers employees a self-funded and self-insured health plan. We’d now like to implement a wellness program. Can we require employees to complete a health risk assessment which requests personal medical...more
The parameters of Constitutional standing, which have been in flux for decades, are solidifying before our very eyes. In recent months the U.S. Supreme Court has confirmed that a litigant must have a “live dispute” at all...more
2/15/2016
/ Campbell Ewald v Gomez ,
Class Action ,
Class Representatives ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Mootness ,
Rule 68 ,
SCOTUS ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Tender Offers
Question: We have our electronic handbook and arbitration agreement online, and all employees sign both electronically. I saw a news blurb that a California court last year refused to enforce an arbitration agreement that...more
Last week, the California Supreme Court provided additional guidance as to how to draft an enforceable arbitration agreement and how Courts should analyze whether mandatory arbitration provisions can be held unconscionable...more
8/13/2015
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Car Dealerships ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
CLRA ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Misrepresentation ,
Poison Pill ,
Preemption
Ashbey was employed from December 1996 until November 2010, when he was discharged. He started with Archstone as a service technician and was promoted to regional service manager. In 2009, Ashbey signed a document titled,...more
You are right to be concerned. Under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), employees who work for entities engaged in the manufacture, processing, packing, transporting, distribution, reception, holding, or...more
This past Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, No. 13-433, that clarifies when a non-exempt employee begins and ends the work day – and, therefore, when an...more
According to reports, more than half of all businesses with over 200 employees ask employees to participate in biometric screening, and nearly 10% of them provide a financial incentive for employees to participate. As a part...more
12/4/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Biometric Information ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Honeywell International ,
PHI ,
Wellness Programs
As a general business practice, employers should routinely anticipate and prepare for emergencies to ensure minimal interruption to their business. While West Africa is experiencing the largest Ebola epidemic in history,...more
Quirky Question -
We are a California employer. After all the publicity surrounding class actions over meal and break periods, we instituted automatic warnings if employees take too long or too short a meal or rest...more
Quirky Question -
I was laid off by my Montana employer and I have decided to help my brother with his start up business. I will be a 50% owner but we are not going to take a salary until revenue is substantial. An...more
Question:
Our office manager occasionally runs errands during the day such as delivering something to a customer or picking up lunch for a meeting. We reimburse her at the IRS rate for mileage. Yesterday, on her way...more
We are located in California and would like to change to a piece-rate system where we pay non-exempt employees a set amount for completed tasks. I understand that this is referred to as paying for a “piece-rate” and it is...more
We have an employee who is claiming that he should be paid for time cleaning up his work station after logging out of our electronic time keeping system each night. Literally, he spends one or two minutes straightening his...more
We are a retail store. An employee in the warehouse requested an assigned chair to sit on when he is between tasks. Must we comply with this request in our California locations?...more
We have a part-time employee in San Francisco, CA who works Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. as support for our sole salesperson in the Bay Area. She has recently requested to alter her schedule to work only 3 days a...more