In a unanimous opinion in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, the California Supreme Court ruled on the important practical question of whether the “regular rate of compensation” for calculating meal or rest break premium...more
7/19/2021
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Rate of Pay ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retroactive Application ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders
On the cusp of the holiday season, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) adopted a comprehensive COVID-19 emergency regulation addressing a variety of issues related to COVID-19 in the...more
Employees must be paid for time spent on their employer’s premises waiting for, and undergoing, required searches of bags and other property voluntarily brought to work, according to the California Supreme Court’s ruling...more
On October 11, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 51, which will drastically change the requirements for employers who use arbitration agreements. Specifically, the new law bans employers from requiring, as a...more
10/17/2019
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
FEHA ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
State Labor Laws
On September 18, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5, which clarifies when workers should be considered “employees” under the California Labor Code and the California Unemployment Insurance Code,...more
10/9/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Governor Newsom ,
Health Insurance ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Withholding Tax
On September 18, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 5, which clarifies when workers should be considered “employees” under the California Labor Code and the California Unemployment Insurance Code,...more
9/24/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Newsom ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Code ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
When it comes to marijuana, the legal landscape is changing rapidly. Ten states, including California, have legalized recreational use. In more than twenty other states, some form of medical marijuana is legal....more
In July of 2018, Dorsey updated you on the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Troester v. Starbucks Corp., where the Court rejected the federal minimis doctrine, which exempts employers from compensating employees for short...more
In his last bill signing of his final term, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law several bills affecting employers’ obligations relating to sexual harassment. Those imposing the most sweeping changes are described briefly...more
The California Supreme Court recently confirmed that employers seeking background reports need to ensure they are in compliance with both the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) and the Consumer Credit...more
In a long-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court rejected the federal de minimis doctrine, making clear that in any instance in which employees perform “minutes of work,” before or after their shifts, that time must...more
7/31/2018
/ CA Supreme Court ,
De Minimis Claims ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Starbucks ,
State Labor Laws ,
Timekeeping ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour
It’s a situation any Human Resources professional might find themselves in – circumstances require you to effectuate a termination in short order and you have to scramble to calculate the employees’ correct final pay and...more
Let’s face it. The hiring process involves mounds of regulations, disclosures, authorizations, and then more disclosures. The last thing an employer – or applicant – wants to see is a higher stack of documents filled with...more
4/26/2018
/ Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Frito-Lay ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Waivers
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
4/12/2016
/ Banks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
CVS ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Job Duties ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Retailers ,
Seating ,
Suitable Seats Lawsuits ,
Totality of Circumstances Test ,
Wage Orders
Question: We recently interviewed a candidate for a server position at our restaurant. During the interview, he informed us that he has an anxiety disorder, which causes him to have panic attacks out of the blue. Do we have...more
Question: We have an employee who claims she has a mental disability involving stress and anxiety caused by working with her supervisor, and she has asked for a different supervisor as an accommodation. This doesn’t seem to...more
A recent Seventh Circuit decision provides a cautionary tale for employers deciding what level of detail about litigated matters to include in publicly disclosed Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings. The court...more
1/22/2015
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Form 10-K ,
Former Employee ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Retaliation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Question:
Our publicly traded company must file a disclosure with the SEC, and we’re trying to determine what information to include regarding recent charges of discrimination that former employees have filed with the...more