On Feb. 4, 2019, the California Court of Appeal decided Ward v. Tilly’s, Inc., holding that employers must provide “reporting time pay” when requiring employees to call in prior to a potential shift to learn whether they must...more
As 2019 quickly approaches, a number of new California laws impacting employers are set to take effect. As a response to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, a number of these new laws address sexual harassment in the...more
12/27/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Board of Directors ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Diversity ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
FEHA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Payroll Records ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
In a 5-4 opinion in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and two companion cases, the U.S. Supreme Court on May 21, 2018, held that class and collective action waivers in employees’ arbitration agreements are enforceable under the...more
5/23/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Savings Clause ,
SCOTUS
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, clarifying the legal standard for distinguishing between employees and independent contractors....more
Earlier this week, just one day before Equal Pay Day, the 9th Circuit issued an en banc opinion in Rizo v. Yovino, holding that a prospective employee’s pay history cannot justify a wage disparity as a “factor other than sex”...more
Although most states follow federal law in calculating overtime and other wage and hour issues, California does not. The California Supreme Court reinforced this principle on March 5, 2018, when it held in Alvarado v. Dart...more
On Oct. 12, 2017, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law that restricts employers’ use of applicants’ salary history during the hiring process. This law will also require employers to provide the applicable pay scale to...more
Everyone is talking about the future of class-action waivers in employment arbitration agreements after the Supreme Court launched its new term this month with oral argument in three closely-watched cases—National Labor...more
10/17/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Case Consolidation ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Ernst & Young v Morris ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
NLRA ,
NLRB
On Aug. 31, 2017, a federal court in Texas struck down the Obama-era Department of Labor rule that would have significantly expanded overtime eligibility by more than doubling the salary threshold under the Fair Labor...more
On July 13, 2017, the California Supreme Court handed down a decision in a long-running dispute in wage and hour litigation regarding whether employers must disclose employees’ names and contact information.
In its first...more
On May 8, 2017, in Mendoza v. Nordstrom Inc., the California Supreme Court clarified California’s 80-year-old laws entitling employees to a “day of rest” and generally prohibiting employers from “causing” employees to work...more
While most states permit parties to waive the right to a jury trial by contract before a dispute arises, the California Supreme Court held over a decade ago that California is not one of them. Recently, a California court...more
Calculating the overtime due to a non-exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act is easy — just multiply the employee’s hourly rate times 1.5 for each hour worked over 40 in a workweek. Right?
If only overtime...more
On Feb. 17, 2017, in Rabin v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that job applicants could maintain a disparate impact claim under the Age Discrimination in...more
On Jan. 25, 2017, in Salinas v. Commercial Interiors, Inc., the 4th Circuit created a brand-new test for joint employer liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The 4th Circuit’s approach to FLSA joint employer...more
On Dec. 22, 2016, the California Supreme Court ruled in Augustus, et al. v. ABM Security Services, Inc. that an employer’s policy requiring employees to remain “on call” during paid rest breaks violated state law. This...more
On Nov. 22, 2016, a federal court in Texas issued a preliminary injunction temporarily halting nationwide enforcement of the U.S. Department of Labor’s new final rule regarding Fair Labor Standards Act overtime regulations...more
On July 1, 2016, Los Angeles introduced its own paid sick leave ordinance as part of the Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance. The requirements of this ordinance are in addition to California’s state-wide paid sick leave...more
On June 30, 2016, Judge Jeffrey Hamilton of the California Superior Court in Fresno County granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the enforcement of various aspects of California’s new piece-rate pay statute,...more
As we reported on May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its new final rule regarding the overtime regulations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The following are key FAQs coming out of our...more
On April 4, 2016, the California Supreme Court issued an opinion with important implications for all California employers. For the first time, the court interpreted the meaning of wage orders promulgated by California’s...more
On April 1, 2016, new amended regulations promulgated under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) will take effect, and they cover a range of topics. Some of the key provisions include:
- new...more
On Oct. 6, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 358 (SB 358), amending California’s Equal Pay Act (CEPA) to make it easier for workers to discover and prove the existence of unlawful gender-based...more
The new law, Assembly Bill 359, will require that, upon a “change in control” of a “grocery establishment,” the seller must prepare a list of “specified eligible grocery workers” for a successor grocery employer, which would...more
8/21/2015
/ Acquisitions ,
Assignments ,
Change of Control ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Rights ,
Exemptions ,
Grocery Stores ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mergers ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Recordkeeping Requirements
As discussed in our prior article, the recently enacted Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 requires employers to provide paid sick leave to California employees who work in California for 30 or more days within...more