In Sparks v. Vista Del Mar Child Services, the California Court of Appeal held that the mere existence of an arbitration clause in a lengthy employee handbook — without more — does not create a binding, enforceable arbitration agreement between employer and employee. In Sparks, the employer utilized a lengthy employee handbook that contained a… Read More
Posts Categorized In: Employment Agreements
Court Allows Chargebacks Against Advanced Commissions
In Deleon v. Verizon Wireless, LLC, the California Court of Appeal clarified when a commission advance may be “clawed back” by an employer. The answer depends on whether the advance payment was fully earned when advanced (which made the payment a wage which could not be clawed back) or if the advance payment had conditions… Read More
U.S. Supreme Court Reverses and Remands California Supreme Court Decision in Sonic Calabasas v. Moreno
As a result of its decision in AT&T Mobility (which I blogged about here), on October 31, 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Sonic Calabasas v. Moreno (which I blogged about here). Now, as a result, the Sonic Calabasas decision is no longer good law in California. You can read… Read More
NLRB Clarifies its Position on Employers’ Social Media Policies
On August 18, 2011, in response to a growing number of disputes between employers and employees concerning employees’ use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media, the NLRB clarified its rules for determining (1) when employees are engaging in protected activity, and (2) when employers are using illegal social media policies. These latest clarifications… Read More
U.S. Supreme Court Issues Landmark Pro-Business Arbitration Ruling
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in AT&T Mobility LLC. v. Concepcion that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts state laws that condition the enforceability of an entire class of arbitration agreements on whether or not they allow for classwide arbitration. The issue in the case was whether AT&T’s customer arbitration agreement,… Read More
Employment Arbitration Agreements After Sonic Calabasas v. Moreno
On February 24, 2011, a divided California Supreme Court ruled in Sonic Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, S174475, that a worker who signs an otherwise valid pre-employment arbitration agreement does not give up his statutory right to seek administrative relief through Labor Commissioner hearings. In other words, even if that worker signed a mandatory arbitration… Read More