In July, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on two important cases relating to religion and employment. In both decisions, the Court came down squarely on the side of religious freedom, ruling in favor of employers. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School, two teachers brought employment discrimination claims against their former employers, both of which were Catholic… Read More
HR & Employment Law Blog
Quit When You’re Ahead – An Expensive Lesson for One California Employer
In case there was any doubt, the California Court of Appeal recently delivered an expensive reminder of its pro-employee stance. Timothy King, a former Regional President for U.S. Bank, was recently awarded $15.6 million in damages based on a jury’s finding that U.S. Bank defamed and wrongfully terminated him in order to avoid paying him… Read More
Reopening Safely: The California “COVID-19 Playbook” for Employers
On July 28, the State of California published a helpful resource for employers – the “COVID-19 Employer Playbook: Supporting a Safer Environment for Workers and Customers.” Many of our clients have confessed to feeling some measure of “COVID Weariness” – the feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted by the nonstop onslaught of information that is… Read More
The “How” and the “What” of Crisis Communication
Let’s face it: the global health crisis brought about by COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon. Here in California, we are almost 6 months into “shelter-in-place,” with no signs of any major changes coming. For most companies, the earlier steps taken in response to the crisis were, understandably, tied mainly to operations and logistics (e.g.,… Read More
Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training Materials Now Online
On May 10, 2019, we blogged about the updated requirements for California employers providing sexual harassment training to their employees, as defined in SB 1343. You can read that blog post here. SB 1343 requires that all employers who have 5 or more employees provide a minimum of 2 hours of sexual harassment prevention training… Read More
Note to Employers: Craft Your Arbitration Agreements Carefully
A recent Court of Appeal decision underscores the importance of reviewing severability provisions in arbitration agreements. In Kec V. Superior Court, Plaintiff Nichole Kec brought individual, class, and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claims against her former employer, defendants R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Reynolds American, Inc. (“Reynolds”), as well as three individual employees at… Read More
The Skies Just Got Friendlier for Employers
On June 29, 2020, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of employers in a trio of cases involving flight attendants and pilots who brought various wage and hour claims (both individual and PAGA) against their respective airline employers for non-compliant wage statements and other violations of California’s Labor Code. Each of the cases was… Read More
Schoolyard Bullying Minus the Schoolyard: How to Mitigate Toxicity in the Virtual Workplace
As an employer, you may think that, during this time of indefinite virtual work, the lack of a shared workspace would mean less bullying amongst your employees. With no common space to congregate, and with less colleague-to-colleague face-to-face time, the sample size for toxic workplace culture would have to decrease, right? Au contraire. In an… Read More
Litigating From Home: The New Normal Thanks to COVID-19
The 2020 global pandemic has brought many rapid changes to the world – and that includes changes to courtrooms and trial across California. COVID-19 has wrought havoc on our court system here in California, forcing many cases (other than the most urgent and life-threatening) to grind to a halt, for months. Now, both state and… Read More
You’re Laid Off Due to Coronavirus – Now What?
Rising layoffs, budget cuts, and business closures are just a few of the widespread consequences of COVID-19. If you have been laid off as a result of the pandemic, you’re likely experiencing—among other things—some level of defeat and/or powerlessness. The emotional toll of a layoff can cloud an employee’s ability to pick up and forge… Read More
