In 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled in Gentry v. Superior Court that class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements are invalid under certain circumstances. Four years later, however, the United States Supreme Court reached a seemingly opposite conclusion in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, holding that “requiring the availability of classwide arbitration interferes with fundamental… Read More
HR & Employment Law Blog
Obama Extends Family Leave Benefits to Married Gay Couples
Yesterday, the federal government announced several regulatory changes that extend marriage benefits to same-sex couples. This announcement — and the legal changes that come with it — are the result of last year’s historic Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Windsor striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) which previously prohibited… Read More
Delivery Drivers are Employees, Not Independent Contractors
In yet another example of the challenges and difficulties involved in using independent contractors, today the Ninth Circuit ruled in Ruiz v. Affinity Logistics that delivery drivers for Affinity are employees rather than independent contractors. In reaching this decision, the Ninth Circuit reversed the lower court’s ruling which concluded that the drivers were employees. The lower… Read More
I.R.S. Bars Employers From Dumping Employees into Health Exchanges
The Affordable Care Act requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide health coverage for their employees or face stiff fines. To comply with the new law, many employers were canceling their group health plans, dumping their employees into the health exchange (which is Covered California in this state), then reimbursing those employees for… Read More
Wall St. Invading the P2P Lending Space?
Peer-to-peer (“P2P”) lending started about a decade ago to allow individuals and other small investors to lend money to each other over the internet. By going P2P, banks were cut out of the process, resulting usually in lower interest rates and more funds available for the small businesses looking for cash. In return, individual investors… Read More
U.S. Supreme Court Rules FICA Tax Applies to Severance Pay
On March 25, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 in United States v. Quality Stores, Inc. that severance payments made to involuntarily terminated employees are taxable “wages” subject to FICA taxes. This decision resolved a split among lower federal courts which left some employers uncertain whether to withhold and pay FICA taxes on severance… Read More
“Halo Report” Shows Increasing Angel Investment
Silicon Valley Bank, the Angel Resource Institute, and CB Insights just released their Q3 2013 “Halo Report.” This report generally confirms that angel investment is increasing, but the median round size ($520K) is down from the Q1 2013 peak ($700K). Other notable findings include: Healthcare deals enjoyed the largest increase in round size, increasing… Read More
NLRB Rules College Football Players on Scholarship are Employees and Can Form Unions
Earlier today, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Regional Office 13 issued a groundbreaking decision in Northwestern University v. College Athletes Players Association (Case No. 13-RC-121359) which could fundamentally alter the relationship of college football players to their schools and to the N.C.A.A. The NLRB’s Regional Office ruled that: (1) College football players on scholarships at… Read More
U.S. Supreme Court Expands Whistleblower Liability
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOA”) included protections for whistleblowers at public companies. Section 806 of the SOA states that no publicly-traded company, or any officer, employee, contractor, subcontractor, or agent of such public company, may discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee for whistleblowing or engaging in other protected activities…. Read More
Can an Employee Who Uses Fake Social Security Card to Get Hired Later Sue for Discrimination?
Well, we’re going to have the answer to that question soon from the California Supreme Court. The case is entitled Salas v. Sierra Chemical (Case Number S196558). The issue in Salas is whether an employee’s claims for discrimination under California’s FEHA can be dismissed on grounds of “after-acquired evidence” and “unclean hands” when that employee provided… Read More