Summary -
Emergency Rule 9, which tolled statutes of limitations for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is valid and operates to extend the time to file a civil suit for a PAGA claim as well as the time period to...more
9/22/2023
/ Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
FEHA ,
Labor & Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Remand ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
Summary -
An employer must accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs unless it can show that doing so would “result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.” ...more
A plaintiff maintains standing to pursue a non-individual PAGA claim in state court when his individual PAGA claim is sent to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement...more
Effective Feb. 3, 2023, California has implemented new, “permanent,” COVID-19 standards. The new regulations were adopted by Cal/OSHA on Dec. 15, 2022, but only became effective upon the review and final approval by the...more
Summary -
Where an employer can and does track the exact time in minutes that its employees work each shift, and those records show that employees were not paid for all the time they worked, neutral time rounding is not a...more
12/8/2022
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitrators ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
FEHA ,
FMCSA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Issue Preclusion ,
Judgment on the Pleadings ,
Preemption ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retroactivity ,
Split of Authority ,
Standing ,
State Labor Laws ,
Timekeeping ,
Wage and Hour
Introducing: the California Civil Rights Department No, this is not a new government agency. Rather, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) was rebranded as the Civil Rights Department, or CRD, to more...more
9/23/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Food Service Workers ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Meda v. AutoZone Inc., No. B311398, 2022 WL 2813819 (Cal. Ct. App. July 19, 2022) -
Summary: Where an employer has not expressly advised its employees that they may use a seat during their work and does not place seats at...more
Viking River Cruises Inc. v. Moriana, 142 S.Ct. 1906 (2022) -
Summary: The FAA “preempts the rule of Iskanian insofar as it precludes division of Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA") actions into individual and...more
On May 23, 2022, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., holding unpaid meal and rest break premiums can give rise to derivative claims for waiting time...more
Summary: Good-faith dispute about employment status of freelancer who modeled in sporadic one- or two-day increments precluded imposition of waiting-time penalties pursuant to Labor Code section 203. ...more
5/17/2022
/ ABC Test ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Arbitration ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Code ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., 12 Cal. 5th 703 (2022) -
Summary: Labor Code section 1102.6, not McDonnell Douglas, provides the standard for evaluating whistleblower retaliation claims under Labor Code...more
Gunther v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., 72 Cal. App. 5th 334 (2021) -
Summary: Heightened civil penalties under Labor Code section 226.3 ($250 & $1,000) do not apply to all violations of section 226, only when the employer...more
Levanoff v. Dragas, Nos. G058480, G058709, 2021 WL 2621360 (Cal. Ct. App. June 25, 2021) -
Summary: Employer did not violate California law by selecting a method of calculating the regular rate of pay that most benefitted...more
On May 28, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed Walmart a groundbreaking win in a wage-and-hour class and California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA") action. Reversing a nearly $102 million...more
California Trucking Association v. Bonta, No. 20-55106, 2021 WL 1656283 (9th Cir. Apr. 28, 2021) -
Summary : The Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act does not preempt the “ABC test” for determining whether a...more
5/12/2021
/ ABC Test ,
Cal Code of Civil Procedure ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Code ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
More than a year after COVID-19 was deemed a pandemic, employers are transitioning greater numbers of employees back to the workplace. As organizations return their workforce to the office, it is important to have the right...more
4/30/2021
/ Business Travel ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Masks ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Remote Working ,
Social Distancing ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations ,
Webinars ,
Workplace Safety
On April 16, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 93 into law. The bill requires employers in specified hospitality and business services-related industries to offer to rehire certain workers who were laid off during the...more
On March 19, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 95, thereby expanding California’s COVID supplemental paid sick leave provisions (“COVID leave”)....more
This year has been fraught with disruption. To make things easier, Payne & Fears is offering one full day of seminars on pressing employment law topics. Attendees can join from the comfort of their homes or offices. Attend...more
9/24/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defense Strategies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Layoffs ,
Misclassification ,
Political Expression ,
Political Speech ,
Remote Working ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Social Media Policy ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Liability ,
Wage and Hour ,
Webinars
The majority of the employment-related bills that Governor Newsom will sign this year will not take effect until January 2021 or later. But Governor Newsom signed two significant, employment-related “trailer bills” this week...more
On August 31, 2020, California’s legislative session closed with a flurry of bills—the majority driven by COVID-19. These bills have been sent to the governor, who now has until the end of September to sign them into law or...more
9/18/2020
/ California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Essential Workers ,
Layoffs ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Pending Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Legislatures ,
State of Emergency ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 5 (“AB5”), controversial legislation which will have a substantial impact on California employers when it goes into effect on January 1, 2020. ...more
9/19/2019
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Expanding California’s efforts to not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, Assembly Bill 450 imposes new requirements on employers when responding to government immigration worksite enforcement actions....more