In 2019, we published analysis to help tech and life sciences companies navigate U.S. tax law changes, an evolving IP landscape and new privacy regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act. We also tracked venture...more
1/8/2020
/ ABC Test ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Convertible Debt ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Privacy ,
Debt Financing ,
Direct Listing ,
Diversity ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Tax Credits ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Life Sciences ,
Misclassification ,
New Guidance ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Privacy Laws ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proxy Season ,
Silicon Valley ,
Startups ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Venture Capital ,
Withholding Tax ,
Woman Board Members
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 10 signed into law Assembly Bill 51. The new law, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, outlaws forced arbitration of a significant majority of claims employees and former employees can...more
11/1/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Breach of Contract ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Governor Newsom ,
Labor Code ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Supremacy Clause
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 18 signed into law Assembly Bill 5, landmark legislation which codifies, and significantly expands, the reach of the California Supreme Court’s restrictive “ABC” test for determining...more
9/19/2019
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 30 signed into law a bill that extends the deadline for small businesses (five or more employees) to conduct harassment prevention training for both supervisory and non-supervisory...more
There are many ways to run afoul of labor laws and spook your investors—one of the most common for startups is “creative” pay practices. In this video, Fenwick employment litigation partners Dan McCoy and Sheeva...more
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on August 12 signed into law new legislation expanding employee protections against discrimination and harassment. Among the key provisions are a lower standard for proving harassment,...more
8/14/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Pay ,
Faragher/Ellerth defense ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Notice Requirements ,
Protected Class ,
Punitive Damages ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Wage and Hour
Washington is the latest state to shake up the non-competition landscape. Last month, Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law a bill that significantly limits post-employment/post-service non-compete agreements. Washington now joins...more
The California Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, imposing a simplified but more burdensome test that businesses must satisfy to justify contractor status,...more
5/9/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Former Employee ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders
In a long-awaited decision, a San Francisco federal judge ruled that GrubHub properly classified a delivery driver as an independent contractor. The Feb. 8 ruling sheds meaningful light on the prominent and heavily-litigated...more
2/23/2018
/ Class Action ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
Right to Control ,
Unpaid Overtime
In a continuing effort to combat pay discrimination, Governor Jerry Brown recently signed AB 168 into law. Beginning January 1, 2018, all California employers are prohibited from seeking, by any means, salary history from an...more
10/23/2017
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
Employer’s Motive, Not Confirmed Knowledge Of Accommodation Need, Is Basis Of Religious Accommodation Violation -
Federal anti-discrimination laws (“Title VII”) prohibit an employer from refusing to hire a candidate to...more
6/24/2015
/ Abercrombie & Fitch ,
Ban the Box ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Dress Codes ,
EEOC v Abercrombie ,
Employee Restrooms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Joint Employers ,
Misclassification ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Clothing ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour
EEOC Conciliation Efforts Subject To Limited Judicial Review -
In Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC, the United States Supreme Court held that the conciliation efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are...more
5/20/2015
/ Conciliation ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
FEHA ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Judicial Review ,
LinkedIn ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Mach Mining v EEOC ,
Paid Leave ,
Prevailing Party ,
Sick Leave
On Premises, On-Call Time Compensable; Sleep Time Not Excluded -
Emphasizing that California law provides greater protections than federal law to on-call employees, the California Supreme Court in Mendiola v. CPS...more
2/20/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Arbitration ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Exempt-Employees ,
On-Call Employees ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Security Guards ,
Wage and Hour
Waiting for and Undergoing Security Checks Not Compensable Time -
The United States Supreme Court recently held in Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk et al. that time spent waiting for and undergoing post-shift...more
1/13/2015
/ Cell Phones ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Integrity Staffing v Busk ,
Labor Code ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Reimbursements ,
SCOTUS ,
Security Checks ,
Sick Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Jury to Decide Adequacy of FMLA Recertification Notice Delivered by Email -
A recent case allowing an employee to take claims under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to trial underscores the importance...more
The 2014 legislative session is in the books, and it produced several new laws affecting employers in California, including:
Private arbitration companies must provide arbitration data on their websites, in a...more
10/27/2014
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Compliance ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Internships ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Training ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Workplace Bullying
New Laws Affecting California Employers -
The 2014 legislative session is in the books, and it produced several new laws affecting employers in California, including:
Private arbitration companies must provide...more
10/23/2014
/ American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitrators ,
Bank Holding Company ,
Customer Lists ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Joint Employers ,
LinkedIn ,
New Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Subsidiaries ,
Trade Secrets ,
Training ,
Unpaid Interns ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Bullying
On September 10, 2014, Governor Brown signed into law AB 1522 (Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014), which requires all California employers, large or small, to provide employees paid sick leave (with limited...more
California Becomes Second State to Mandate Paid Sick Leave -
On September 10, 2014, Governor Brown signed into law AB 1522 (Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014), which requires all California employers,...more
A California court of appeal recently confirmed that employers may require exempt employees to use accrued leave for partial-day absences, even if shorter than four hours. In Rhea v. General Atomics, plaintiff Lori Rhea, on...more
A recent announcement by the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel and a Washington Supreme Court decision underscore the risks of potential joint employer liability...more
Partial-Day Leave Deductions Lawful for Exempt Employees -
A California court of appeal recently confirmed that employers may require exempt employees to use accrued leave for partial-day absences, even if shorter than...more
8/15/2014
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Retaliation
No Liability for Off-the-Clock Work Absent Employer Knowledge -
A California appeals court refused to hold Kaiser Foundation Health Plan liable for alleged off-the-clock overtime about which it lacked knowledge. In...more
6/18/2014
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Kaiser Permanente ,
Minimum Wage ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Pregnancy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Wage and Hour
In Hills and Dales General Hospital, the NLRB recently determined that an employer’s standards of behavior policy that prohibited “negative comments” and “negativity or gossip,” and directed employees to represent the...more
Supreme Court Confirms FICA Taxes Must be Withheld from Severance Payments -
Finding severance payments to be a form of “remuneration for employment,” the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Quality Stores,...more
4/22/2014
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
FEHA ,
FICA Taxes ,
Harassment ,
Hills and Dales ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRB ,
Posting Requirements ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Severance Pay ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Title VII ,
Wages ,
Whistleblowers