Arbitration agreements are a powerful tool used by many employers to compel the utilization of arbitration as a means of alternative dispute resolution. Arbitration allows the parties of a claim to resolve the dispute...more
Under the wage orders issued by California’s Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC), “[a]ll working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.” Although...more
In Romulus v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., five former Shift Supervisors brought a putative class action against CVS under the Massachusetts Wage Act, contending they were required to work through their unpaid breaks. Specifically,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: At a time when the Massachusetts meal break landscape is increasingly friendly to employees, a federal judge in the state recently denied class certification in a meal break case, Romulus, et al. v. CVS...more
The California Supreme Court has issued a recent opinion (Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., No. S215614) interpreting, for the first time, California's Wage Order requirement that "all working employees shall be provided with...more
“Shut the door. Have a seat.” The phrase immediately conjures emotions from the recipient. Most likely, life-changing (typically bad) news is about to be imparted. For Mad Men fans, it harkens to the third-season finale when...more
Employees are entitled to sit at work when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats. On April 4, 2016, the California Supreme Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Carol A. Corrigan, clarified...more
Last week, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling on a California Wage Order requirement that employers provide “suitable seats” for employees when the “nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.” The...more
Question: Some of our retail company’s employees in California are demanding chairs to sit in while they work. Management thinks it appears unprofessional to have workers sitting, but I hear the employees might have a legal...more
A recent California Supreme Court decision has the potential to affect all California employees who are required to stand while performing parts of their job. In response to numerous lawsuits brought by cashiers, retail...more
The California Supreme Court's recent decision in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy/Henderson v. JPMorgan Chase has clarified the state's standards concerning when employers must provide suitable seating to their employees. While the...more
On April 4, 2016, the California Supreme Court ruled that employers must provide an employee with seating if the employee’s tasks at a discrete location make seated work feasible, even if the employee’s job duties include...more
The countdown begins to receiving some clarity on the suitable seating rule from the California Supreme Court. On January 5, 2016, the Court heard oral argument in the consolidated matters of Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. and...more
Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission garnered significant criticism from employers when it sued CVS over its standard releases used in conjunction with reductions in force and similar employee terminations....more
Weldon Williams, a pharmacist, suffered from diabetes which limited his ability to stand for extended periods of time. Williams sued his former employer Revco Discount Drug Centers, Inc., d/b/a CVS Pharmacy, Inc. ("CVS")...more
Employers like separation agreements. Separation agreements, of course, are contracts that employees sign when their employment is terminated that allows them to be paid severance and in exchange they usually give up the...more
The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the thirty-day time period for removal under CAFA is triggered when the plaintiffs’ complaint or plaintiffs’ subsequent other papers provide defendants with sufficient...more
Most employers have separation agreement forms that have served them well over the years. The terms have become fairly standardized and, aside from the occasional tweak, they don’t change much and are rarely challenged. ...more
Last month, we reported that an Illinois district court judge threw out the EEOC’s controversial lawsuit against CVS seeking to invalidate its severance agreements. The judge there did so and promised to follow up with a...more
On October 7, 2014, District Judge John Darrah of the North District of Illinois dismissed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit against CVS Pharmacy. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. CVS Pharmacy,...more
On October 7th, a federal district judge granted summary judgment against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in its lawsuit against CVS. The EEOC had challenged the nation’s largest integrated provider of...more
In a closely watched ruling, an Illinois federal district court handed a victory to one particular employer, but ducked a broader ruling that would have provided general guidance to companies generally that are trying to...more
As we reported in February 2014, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued CVS Pharmacy in federal court in Chicago on a novel theory that the company’s standard separation agreement unlawfully deterred departing...more
Employers can begin to breathe a sigh of relief after a federal judge last week dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the CVS drug store chain. In the lawsuit, the EEOC took an...more
A federal court has tossed the EEOC’s controversial lawsuit against CVS seeking to invalidate its severance agreements. While the EEOC still has a similar lawsuit pending against another company in Colorado, employers can...more