As expected, California’s effort to ban employers from requiring employees and applicants to sign an arbitration agreement has been challenged in federal court. The lawsuit was filed by a business coalition that includes the...more
12/12/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Labor Code ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws
In this episode of The Proskauer Brief, partners Tony Oncidi and Kate Gold discuss California’s most recent legislative response to the #MeToo movement. These developments include new restrictions on confidentiality and...more
12/2/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Retaliation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Legislatures ,
Statute of Limitations
As recently highlighted by the New York Times, a new phrase emblematic of the real or perceived “War Between the Generations” has gone viral: “OK, Boomer!” The phrase, popularized on the Internet and, in particular, Twitter...more
Court Upholds Whistleblower Verdicts In Favor Of Fired Parking Ticket Hearing Examiners -
Hawkins v. City of Los Angeles, 40 Cal. App. 5th 384 (2019) -
Todd Hawkins and Hyung Kim were terminated from their jobs as...more
11/11/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
DFEH ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
FEHA ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Labor Code ,
McDonalds ,
Minimum Wage ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tipped Employees ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Last week, we blogged about the avalanche of new labor laws that California employers will face in 2020. Here are two late additions to the list — just in time for Halloween!...more
Here’s a comprehensive list of the new employment-related statutes enacted and signed into law in the Golden State (effective Jan. 1, 2020 unless otherwise specified)...more
10/15/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Bias ,
Breastfeeding ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
DFEH ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Discrimination ,
FEHA ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Independent Contractors ,
New Legislation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Bans ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
On Thursday, October 10, 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law several new measures that employers will need to comply with by January 1, 2020 and that will generally make it easier for employees to sue their...more
10/14/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DFEH ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Governor Newsom ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
Following passage of AB-5, the recent string of multi-million dollar employee jury verdicts, and other challenging developments, we concluded that our subscribers need some feel-good news every meow and then (sorry)....more
In an effort to give consumers more control over the data businesses collect from and about them, the California legislature passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018 (and amended it a few months later). The...more
9/24/2019
/ B2B Organizations ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Exemptions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Amendments ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Rulemaking Process
California Supreme Court Invalidates Agreement To Arbitrate Wage Disputes -
OTO, LLC v. Kho, 2019 WL 4065524 (Cal. S. Ct. 2019) -
In the most recent chapter of the ongoing saga regarding the enforceability of...more
9/18/2019
/ Amended Complaints ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-SLAPP ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Bill Cosby ,
CA Supreme Court ,
CAFA ,
Cal Code of Civil Procedure ,
Defamation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Free Speech ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Obesity ,
Race Discrimination ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Vicarious Liability ,
Wage and Hour
Yesterday September 12, 2019, the California Supreme Court held that private litigants may not recover unpaid wages under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”). See ZB, N.A. v. Superior Court (Lawson) (Cal....more
9/16/2019
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Labor Code ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
Assembly Bill 5, a proposed new law currently pending in the California legislature, would limit and codify last year’s California Supreme Court Dynamex opinion. If passed and signed into law by Gov. Newsom (he’s already said...more
9/5/2019
/ CA Supreme Court ,
DoorDash ,
Dynamex ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Independent Contractors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Lyft ,
Misclassification ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Uber ,
Unions
These days, more employers than ever are purchasing Employment Practices Liability Insurance (“EPLI”) to cover them in the event they get sued for employment-related claims. (See our earlier posting on that topic: “A Handy...more
Employers all over California are once again hearing the siren call of arbitration in the wake of a $15.4 million single-plaintiff verdict that a Los Angeles jury delivered to a former Los Angeles Times sports columnist on...more
Five In-Home Supportive Service (“IHSS”) providers filed a class-action lawsuit last month challenging their union’s practice of deducting union dues despite their quitting the union. The workers allege their First Amendment...more
Earlier this week, three taxpayers sued California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to prevent enforcement of Senate Bill 826.
Senate Bill 826, signed into law last year by former Governor Jerry Brown, requires that by the...more
What used to be a routine request – asking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for an extension of time when responding to a charge of discrimination or harassment and assuming extra time would be granted –...more
We’re delighted to report that we secured two summary judgments in two separate alleged discrimination cases on behalf of our client Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in matters that were pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court....more
The 9th Circuit court of appeals has enforced the City of Everett, Washington’s Dress Code Ordinance and amendments to the Lewd Conduct Ordinances. These ordinances require employees of “Quick-Service” facilities to cover...more
As we have reported before, California is set to become the first state to prohibit employers from discriminating based upon hairstyle. Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the “CROWN Act” (Create a Respectful and...more
In a decision unsurprising to anyone familiar with what California juries have been up to lately, fast-food titan Jack in the Box was ordered to pay $15.4 million (including a staggering $10 million in punitive damages) last...more
6/21/2019
/ Age Discrimination ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Emotional Distress Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Jury Awards ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Negligent Supervision ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment
It’s springtime in California! Even as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, the California legislature is busy, busy, busy passing 100s of new laws because, after all, you can never get too much of a good thing!...more
Strict Independent Contractor Test Applies Retroactively -
Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Int'l, 2019 WL 1945001 (9th Cir. 2019) -
Last year, the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Ops. W. Inc. v. Superior Court, 4...more
5/17/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
FEHA ,
Former Employee ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Retroactive Application ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Wage and Hour
A new California bill aims to make it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees based upon their hairstyles. SB 188, also known as the “CROWN Act” (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural hair),...more
Last year, we questioned whether California’s new restrictions on independent contractors would apply retroactively. Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit decided that the landmark ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior...more