The California Supreme Court recently issued a long-awaited opinion resolving a split in the Court of Appeal over whether trial courts may dismiss unmanageable PAGA actions. In Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., filed...more
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an employer-friendly decision in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana. There, it held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA)...more
7/21/2023
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Class Representatives ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Preemption ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Standing ,
Uber ,
Viking River Cruises ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana
Over the past several years a growing number of cities, counties and states have enacted some form of pay transparency laws covering a wide range of issues. Most of these laws aim to prevent pay discrimination and provide...more
On October 24, 2022, the Sixth District issued a decision in in Camp v. Home Depot, handing employees a major win in the wage and hour arena by holding that Home Depot’s practice of rounding hourly employees’ total daily...more
10/28/2022
/ Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Home Depot ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Reversal ,
Rounding ,
State Labor Laws ,
Timekeeping ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits employment discrimination based on certain protected classes and empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices....more
9/29/2022
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Background Checks ,
Cannabis Products ,
Drug Testing ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
FEHA ,
Governor Newsom ,
Marijuana ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Protected Class ,
Security Clearance ,
State Labor Laws
On May 15, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the much-anticipated and employer-favorable ruling in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, holding, in an 8-1 decision, that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts the California...more
6/20/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Preemption ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS ,
State Labor Laws ,
Viking River Cruises ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana ,
Waivers
On May 23, 2022, in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., the California Supreme Court clarified that a violation of Labor Code section 226.7 (payment of premium wages for meal and rest period violations) gives rise to...more
5/26/2022
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Premium Pay ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statutory Deadlines ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements
In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court voted to stay the vaccine-or-test regulation, ruling that the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies exceeded their authority. Separately, the...more
1/14/2022
/ Administrative Authority ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
As California and the U.S. enjoy a surge in the travel industry again, the newly codified Labor Code section 2810.8 sets forth the obligations of California employers with regard to the recall of laid-off employees in many...more
Anyone who has considered filing a petition for writ of mandate from a superior court ruling knows the odds are not in favor of the court granted this extraordinary relief. Apart from clear error, the requirement of showing...more
6/23/2021
/ Article III ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Irreparable Harm ,
Labor Code ,
Over-Time ,
Petition for Writ of Mandate ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Standing ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements ,
Wal-Mart
The American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”), signed into law on March 11, 2021, obligates employers to pay COBRA insurance premiums for individuals who suffer job loss. Under the plan, employers receive the subsidy, which they pass...more
4/9/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Credits
As the coronavirus vaccine becomes more widely available over the next few months, many employers grapple with the question of whether to mandate the vaccine. Following EEOC guidelines, some employers plan to require it as a...more
The recent guidance concerning OSHA’s record-keeping requirements will go into effect on May 26, 2020. Under the requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness, which means employers are duty-bound to record cases of...more
Life has changed in ways most of us could never have imagined. Our homes have become our safe havens more than ever before, and our workplaces have spilled over into our home offices, kitchen tables, and family rooms....more
On January 7, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor published three new opinion letters that every employer should review.
The first involves an employer’s nondiscretionary bonus payment of $3,000 given to employees who...more
2/14/2020
/ Bonuses ,
Consultants ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Minimum Salary ,
Opinion Letter ,
Over-Time ,
Rate of Pay ,
Wage and Hour
Typically used in offices, hotels, hospitals, etc., to provide multiple phone lines within one building, multi-line telephone systems (“MLTS”) are the subject of two new federal laws: (1) Kari’s Law and (2) the Ray Baum...more
Employers throughout the U.S. are wrapping up October by participating in National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a tradition that can be traced back to 1945. The purpose of NDEAM is to raise awareness about...more
11/1/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Benchmarks ,
Best Practices ,
Disabilities ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Managers ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Small Employers ,
Supervisors
It’s no secret that California is typically viewed as the most employee-friendly state in the country. New employee-favored laws are passed so quickly that employee handbooks can be rendered outdated before they go to print....more
The EEOC collects workforce data from employers with more than 100 employees (a lower threshold applies to federal contractors). The data collected is used for several purposes, including enforcement, employers’...more
7/30/2019
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Requirements ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour