In a significant victory for California employers, the California Supreme Court threw out a $15 million judgment in favor of allegedly misclassified employees. In Duran v. U.S. Bank National Association, a putative class of...more
A California appeals court refused to hold Kaiser Foundation Health Plan liable for alleged off-the-clock overtime about which it lacked knowledge. In Jong v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Jong, together with two other...more
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 Ellis v. U.S. Security Associates, a California Court of Appeal held that an employer’s attempt to shorten the one year statute of limitations to file a harassment claim under FEHA was against public policy and...more
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
In a recent speech, the SEC recently warned businesses not to attempt to disincentivize company whistleblowers from bringing alleged wrongdoing to the attention of the SEC, and that the SEC is “very concerned” about any...more
Is an employer allowed to enforce a uniformly-applied workplace conduct policy against an employee whose misconduct was caused by her disability? A federal district court in California said “maybe, maybe not,” and determined...more
Finding severance payments to be a form of “remuneration for employment,” the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Quality Stores, Inc. held that such payments are taxable wages – and thus subject to withholding –...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
In Guilfoyle v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., a federal district court in California held that an employer was unable to meet the “primarily engaged in” requirement of the executive exemption test where the employee spent more...more
Finding that ample evidence existed that Walmart exercised control over the working conditions of the workers employed by Walmart’s warehouse subcontractors, a California federal district court in Carrillo v. Schneider...more
Reversing a trial court’s decision in favor of the employer, a California Court of Appeals in Cheal v. El Camino Hospital held that a former employee may present her age discrimination claim to a jury because there were...more
A California federal court in Enki Corporation v. Freedman held that a former employee’s access of the employer’s computer systems through his log-in credentials did not amount to unlawful hacking under either the Computer...more
A California federal court in Enki Corporation v. Freedman held that a former employee’s access of the employer’s computer systems through his log-in credentials did not amount to unlawful hacking under either the Computer...more
Under amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Integrity Act of 2011 that took effect in late October, employers must now timely and adequately respond to a state unemployment agency’s information request about an employee’s...more
A federal district court in Washington refused to require an employer, absent some notice from an employee of the need to do so, to investigate the cause of the employee’s poor performance to explore whether it might be...more
In Rope v. Auto-Chlor System of Washington, Inc., plaintiff Scott Rope, a former branch manager for Auto-Chlor, sued his employer for violation of the newly-enacted Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act,...more
Finding the National Labor Relations Board failed to give appropriate weight to the Federal Arbitration Act, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Board decision invalidating an arbitration agreement that...more
Finding the National Labor Relations Board failed to give appropriate weight to the Federal Arbitration Act, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Board decision invalidating an arbitration agreement that...more
Following the California Supreme Court’s guidance in Harris v. City of Santa Monica (February 2013 FEB) that an employment action is illegal only where bias is a “substantial motivating factor” for the action, a California...more
In Peng v. First Republic Bank, a former employee asserting discrimination and other claims challenged the enforceability of the arbitration agreement she signed as a condition of employment. Specifically, she asserted that...more
California employers should note the following legislative developments related to employees and their familial obligations:
SB 770: Governor Brown signed into law a bill that expands the list of family members for...more
Following the California Supreme Court’s Brinker ruling (April 2012 Employment Alert) that a California employer satisfies its meal/rest period obligations by “providing” rather than “ensuring” employees take rest and meal...more
In Davis v. Kiewit Pacific Company, Lisa Davis, a heavy machine operator and one of two female employees at a 100-employee excavation project, prevailed in her claims of gender discrimination, hostile work environment, and...more
Companies in California and across the United States are moving away from traditional vacation accrual policies to unlimited vacation policies, or honor vacation policies. What is an honor vacation policy? How can start-ups...more