One month after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected California’s ban on enforcing agreements that require the individual arbitration of claims under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, the California Supreme Court granted...more
8/10/2023
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Class Representatives ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Qui Tam ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana ,
Wage and Hour
Are customers who use self-checkout entitled to be paid for it?
NOTE FROM ROBIN: At least one California lawyer thinks so. He recently filed a lawsuit contending that his client, a supermarket customer, and other...more
Supreme Court considers arbitration waivers of PAGA claims.
In 2014, the California Supreme Court declared unenforceable arbitration agreements in which employees waive the right to bring a representative action under...more
Know thy provider.
(Last in a four-part series.)
In Monster Energy Company v. City Beverages, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently vacated an arbitration decision where the arbitrator had disclosed...more
. . . if they do it right.
(Part 3 of a four-part series.)
The National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that an employer may impose a mandatory arbitration program with a class or collective relief waiver after a...more
AB 51 bans mandatory employment arbitration agreements.
(Part 2 of a four-part series.)
AB 51, which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on October 10, adds a new Section 432.6(a) to the California Labor Code,...more
Review your arbitration programs now, and consider making changes by year-end.
(Part 1 of a two-part series.) -
In August, the California Supreme Court held that an employer's litigation-like arbitration process was...more
This arbitration decision may result in a "whack."
For more than 30 years, the California Supreme Court has been playing a game of arbitration "Whack-A-Mole" with the U.S. Supreme Court....more
The bête-noir of conservative jurisprudence is the “administrative state,” fueled by judicial doctrines affording various degrees of deference to administrative regulations, interpretive guidelines, and pronouncements. Last...more
7/3/2019
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Auer Deference ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Reasonable Interpretations ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Stare Decisis ,
Vacated ,
Veterans' Benefits
Not much of a showdown.
Old Westerns used to end at high noon on Main Street. At one end was the White Hat, at the other end was the Black Hat. Suddenly, guns flashed, shots rang out, and we all held our breath to see who...more
6/28/2019
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Auer Deference ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Reasonable Interpretations ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Stare Decisis ,
Vacated ,
Veterans' Benefits
The Court has delivered employers their first loss in an arbitration case in decades.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court held 8-0 in New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira that the Federal Arbitration Act does not cover certain...more
1/18/2019
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Independent Contractors ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Prime v Oliveira ,
Question of Arbitrability ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS
When it comes to exemptions from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, courts have traditionally plopped a big thumb on the scale against employers: the exemptions have been construed “narrowly” in favor of a right to...more
4/9/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
Car Dealerships ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
Sales Commissions ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Wage and Hour
Well, not exactly. But some natural phenomena occur only once or twice in a lifetime—like Halley’s Comet, or the turn of the Millennium, or the Mets winning the pennant. Another one happened today: the FLSA has become more...more
Starting in January, California has rolled out Equal Pay Legislation 2.0—the new generation in equal pay legislation. It has become the first jurisdiction to adopt a true “comparable worth” standard for pay equity....more
California’s wage orders, which regulate working conditions for most industries and occupations, require that “[a]ll working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the...more