Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 406: Listen and Learn -- Defenses to a Crime
Voluntary Payment Doctrine
Making Effective Use of the Claims/Disputes Process
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 12 with David Simon and Bill Athanas on adding a compliance defense to the FCPA
For decades, the Department of Labor (DOL) has recognized the impracticability of requiring Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) nonexempt employees to clock in exactly at the beginning of their scheduled shifts. In most...more
A female applicant applies for a position that was widely advertised. During her interview she insists on being paid $100,000. The employer agrees to her salary demand although it employs a male doing substantially similar...more
In Smith v. School Board for the City of Norfolk, Virginia, et al., No. 2:21-cv-138 (November 5, 2021), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia refused to grant a motion to dismiss to the Norfolk School...more
In a case of first impression, last week, the Second District California Court of Appeal held that judges have inherent authority to limit, and even strike, unmanageable PAGA claims. ...more
On September 9, 2021, the California Court of Appeal issued its opinion in Wesson v. Staples, Inc., holding that (1) courts have inherent authority to ensure that Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims can be fairly and...more
On July 6, 2021, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee signed Pay Equity legislation (the “Act”) (H 5261A, S 0270A) into law. The Act is a broad piece of legislation that applies to all employers. While the Act does not go into...more
The California Supreme Court recently ruled that acknowledgments may be evidence used by employers to refute meal period claims, but employers cannot obtain acknowledgments using “rounded” time punches when confronting...more
The federal Equal Pay Act (EPA) and its many state analogs require equal pay for equal (or, in some states, “substantially similar”) work. The EPA contains a so-called “catch-all” defense to equal pay claims, permitting wage...more
On April 30, 2020, Judge V. Raymond Swope of San Mateo Superior Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in Jewett et al. v. Oracle America, Inc. In doing so, the court certified a class of more than 4,100...more
Yesterday, the full Ninth Circuit held that an employer cannot rely on an individual’s prior salary to justify a wage disparity between a male and female employee. In Rizo v. Yovino, a female math teacher brought a claim...more
SB 123, just passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Brown, makes several amendments to Oregon’s pay equity law. Most notable are the revisions to the limited affirmative defense available to employers in litigation....more
This edition of Employment Flash looks at developments in labor and employment law, including a Supreme Court ruling that Title VII’s charge-filing requirement is nonjurisdictional and new state legislation in New York,...more
In Troester v. Starbucks Corporation, the California Supreme Court recently held that the federal de minimis doctrine does not apply to claims for unpaid wages under the California Labor Code. As a follow-up to our recent...more
“BASEBALL IS LIFE. The rest is just details.” To members of the Green Valley High School (Henderson, Nevada) varsity baseball team in the mid-1990s, this wasn’t just a catchphrase on a t-shirt; it was gospel. We lived and...more
On July 26, 2018, in a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court in Troester v. Starbucks Corporation held that the federal "de minimis doctrine" does not apply to claims for unpaid wages under the California Labor...more
On the heels of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s call for New York to take additional steps to close the gender wage gap, the New York State Assembly passed a suite of pay equity legislation that would impact both private and public...more
Enacted in 1963, the Equal Pay Act prohibits differential payments between male and female employees doing equal work except when made pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system which measures earnings by...more
On July 1, 2018, Massachusetts Pay Equity law takes effect requiring all employers to pay men and women equally for comparable work—a phrase that is different from many similar statutes that have gone into effect over the...more
In a case of first impression, the Second Circuit held on April 6, 2018 that liquidated damages may not be awarded for the same course of conduct under both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law....more
The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General (“AG”) recently issued an Overview and Frequently Asked Questions document (“Guidance”) for the Massachusetts Pay Equity Law (“Law”), which will go into effect on July 1, 2018....more
On March 1, 2018, the Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) issued detailed guidance on the amendments to the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (MEPA), which are set to go into effect on July 1, 2018. The amendments, which were...more
The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General recently issued guidance on the new amendments to the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (“MEPA”), effective July 1, 2018. Although the guidance is extremely detailed and should be...more
The Washington Supreme Court case Brady v. Autozone recently addressed the standards that apply when a non-exempt employee alleges that an employer did not provide meal breaks. In short: it is now clear that if a lawsuit is...more
Defendants who try their hands at litigation on the merits and seek arbitration only after things don’t go their way, risk losing the right to arbitrate—as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made clear in the recent case of...more
On August 1, 2016, Massachusetts became the first state to bar employers from asking job applicants about their salary history before making a formal job offer that includes compensation. Under the new law, employers may not...more