In our previous blog we wrote about California’s Assembly Bill 51, which largely impacts arbitration agreements by prohibiting employers from requiring employees or applicants for employment to agree to arbitrate claims for...more
10/21/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Fees ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
FEHA ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Regulations ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed groundbreaking legislation largely impacting mandatory arbitration agreements (Assembly Bill 51) and extending the deadline to file a harassment complaint from one to three years...more
10/16/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
DFEH ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Harassment ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
In a win for franchisors, the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of fast-food behemoth McDonald’s Corp., ruling that the franchisor is not a joint employer of its franchisees’...more
10/11/2019
/ Class Action ,
Common Law Claims ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Regulations ,
McDonalds ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour
Any employer that has faced a wage & hour lawsuit in California knows that minor violations can quickly add up to significant liabilities....more
Employee lawsuits for wrongful termination often allege claims for violating the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and public policy. The public policy claim, often referred to as a “Tameny” claim, is based on a...more
Last year (April 2018) the California Supreme Court rocked the boat with the seminal Dynamex decision, which created very high barriers for companies who utilize independent contractors. On September 18, 2019, Governor Gavin...more
9/23/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Retroactive Application ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Arbitration is a highly controversial topic in California.
Just last year 20,000 Google employees walked off the job in protest of Google’s policy to arbitrate workplace misconduct claims. A few weeks ago more than 200...more
7/12/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Labor Regulations ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms
The discourse around equal pay has reverberated through the media and made its way to a new federal regulation that seeks to identify and address instances in which persons of different sex, race, and ethnicity earn different...more
The analysis of whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor for purposes of California’s Wage Orders became more restrictive in 2018 following the California Supreme Court’s adoption of the “ABC” test in the...more
6/6/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Appeals ,
DLSE ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
Retroactive Application ,
Wage and Hour
The 2017-2018 legislative session concluded last month with new laws effecting almost all employers in California. Here’s a summary of the new laws, as well as the bills that would have had a significant impact, but were...more
10/12/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Breastfeeding ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Brown ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Strict Compliance ,
Wage and Hour ,
Waiver of Rights
Senate Bill 970 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown and applies exclusively to all hotels and motels with employees in California....more
10/2/2018
/ Child Labor ,
Employee Training ,
Exploitation ,
Forced Labor ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Human Trafficking ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Strict Compliance
When a month-to-month tenant stops paying rent and a landlord initiates an unlawful detainer lawsuit, does the tenant maintain tenancy rights in the premises pending the resolution of the lawsuit? ...more
In Dynamex, the California Supreme Court decided to adopt an “ABC” test to determine whether workers are properly classified as independent contractors. This raised a number of questions concerning how (or if) the test should...more
5/29/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Risk Assessment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court handed down a ruling that may significantly impact the decision on classifying workers as “employees” or “independent contractors.” ...more
The Court of Appeal just confirmed that a landlord is not barred from recovering rent owed by a tenant in a civil action for breach of contract, even after obtaining a judgment for unlawful detainer against the tenant, so...more
2/19/2018
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Collateral Estoppel ,
Commercial Leases ,
Commercial Tenants ,
Damages ,
Landlords ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Rental Income ,
Rental Property ,
Res Judicata ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unlawful Detainer
In November 2016 the California Supreme Court ordered that a decision from the appellate division of the San Diego Superior Court in U.S. Financial, L.P. v. Michael McLitus (“McLitus”) be published. ...more
There have been significant changes to state and federal laws in 2016 affecting employers of all sizes and in many industries. We'd like to help our clients stay apprised of some of the more critical changes by reminding all...more
12/21/2016
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Agricultural Workers ,
Arbitration ,
Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Restrooms ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Equal Pay ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Form 1094 ,
Form 1095 ,
Form I-9 ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Janitorial Services ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Payroll Records ,
Popular ,
Private Schools ,
Required Forms ,
Sick Leave ,
Teachers ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements ,
Wages ,
White-Collar Exemptions
This game has been all the rage since July. Engadget reports over 100 million downloads of Pokemon Go, racking up $10 million each day in revenue for game makers Niantic, The Pokemon Company and Nintendo. It’s a beast. ...more
8/12/2016
/ Business Ownership ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Property Owners ,
Geolocation ,
Location Data ,
Mobile Apps ,
Niantic Inc. ,
Nintendo ,
Nuisance ,
Pokemon ,
Popular ,
Private Property ,
Property Owners ,
Smartphones ,
Technology ,
Trespass ,
Video Games
The internet is a powerful channel for communication, with great strengths compared to other media. It has been referred to as the "largest public space in human history”.
Internet communications can reach an unlimited...more
In 2013, Good Morning to You Productions Corp., Rupa Marya and Robert Siegel (collectively “GMTY”) filed a class action suit against Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., one of the largest music publishing companies in the world and...more
It's not every day a Ninth Circuit court opinion includes, "Holy copyright law, Batman!," or “To the Batmobile!” But in affirming a district court’s ruling in a copyright infringement case by DC Comics against the maker of...more
9/28/2015
/ Batman ,
Comics ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
DC Comics ,
Popular ,
Summary Judgment ,
Time Warner ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
Warner Brothers Entertainment