Since its enactment, California courts have universally established the California Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.97 et seq., which governs the timely payment of fees in arbitration, allows no room for error....more
In Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., the California Supreme Court jump-started 2024 with a boon to employees, ending trial courts’ inherent authority to dismiss unmanageable claims under the Private Attorneys’ General...more
Parties in California state court employment lawsuits and other actions may now deploy a potent new discovery tool. New demands for disclosure may be used in employment litigation and other lawsuits, with exceptions, filed in...more
On October 10, 2023, California Governor Newsom signed into law S.B. 365, a bill that amends California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1294. The new law provides that when a party appeals an order denying a motion to compel...more
The California Legislature has enacted a first-of-its-kind workplace violence prevention law that applies across all industries and to nearly every employer with operations in California. On September 30, 2023, Governor Gavin...more
The state's Supreme Court has unanimously held that employers do not owe a duty of care under tort law to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to employees' household members. Although the Court, in Kuciemba v. Victory Woodworks,...more
On March 29, 2023, the California Supreme Court put the final nail in the coffin of an employee’s claim that California Labor Code Section 204 requires employees to be paid on weekends. The California high court declined...more
Here's what employers need to heed in 2022. No. 1: Settlement and separation agreements. Pay attention to any new settlement, employment, or severance agreements. We already know that settlement agreement provisions...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom on October 7 signed Senate Bill 331, which will prohibit employers from (1) including in a settlement agreement a clause that restricts an employee’s right to disclose information about...more
In 2018, in response to the #MeToo movement, California enacted Senate Bill 820 which added section 1001 to the California Code of Civil Procedure and prohibited employers from including provisions into settlement agreements...more
California Trucking Association v. Bonta, No. 20-55106, 2021 WL 1656283 (9th Cir. Apr. 28, 2021) - Summary : The Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act does not preempt the “ABC test” for determining whether a...more
The #MeToo Movement, now in its third year, continued its evolution from grassroots activism to legislative change in 2019, with new laws addressing discrimination and harassment emerging from state governments and resulting...more
On August 29, 2019, the California Supreme Court held in OTO, L.L.C. v. Kho, S244630, that a mandatory arbitration agreement may be unenforceable against employee wage claims if it requires the employee to forego the “Berman”...more
As the New Year approaches, there are several critical changes in California’s employment laws set to take effect. Many of these changes were driven by the #MeToo movement, which marked its first anniversary in 2018 and is...more
California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law several bills that will have significant impact on employers’ workplace obligations. Effective January 1, 2019, the new laws will restrict nondisclosure agreements and...more
In the waning days of his final term of office and on the last possible day under the legislative calendar, on September 30, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a trio of bills into law that should have a dramatic...more
Wrapping up a whirlwind weekend, California Governor Jerry Brown just signed several pieces of legislation that will create new employer obligations in the areas of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Specifically,...more
On July 13, 2017, the Supreme Court of California issued a unanimous opinion in Williams v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Marshalls of CA, LLC), holding that a representative plaintiff in a Private Attorneys...more