Determining whether a worker should be classified as an employee or independent contractor has always been a challenging task that frustrates our clients. There are a variety of legal “tests” that are used in different contexts in order to make that determination. A worker can be considered an independent contractor by one state agency but… Read More
Posts Categorized In: Employment Litigation
Arbitration Agreements — A Seawall to Surging PAGA Lawsuits?
Since its passage in 2004, California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) has been a weapon used by employees and their lawyers across California. PAGA allows one “aggrieved employee” to sue his/her employer in a representative capacity and to recover penalties and attorneys’ fees for technical violations of the California Labor Code suffered by that one employee… Read More
New U.S. Tax Law Impacts Sexual Harassment Settlements
When U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law last month, everyone was focused on the corporate tax cuts and — especially here in California — the reduction of the deductions for mortgage interest, state income taxes, and local property taxes. But lurking in the new tax law was a… Read More
California Court Makes it Easier for Overweight Employees to Sue Their Employers
California law has not (yet) recognized weight as a protected category along with race, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, medical condition, and many others. However, more than 25 years ago, the California Supreme Court held that an overweight employee could qualify as a “disabled” under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) — and,… Read More
Accidental Pay Stub Violations Create PAGA Liability
What happens when an employer inadvertently hands out pay stubs that the employer does not realize are missing some required information? Well, given that this is California, you can probably guess the answer.
CA Supreme Court — Employees Have Broad Discovery Rights in PAGA Actions
Yesterday, in a unanimous 7-0 opinion, the California Supreme Court held in Williams v. Marshalls of CA that plaintiffs suing employers in Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) are entitled to broad discovery rights. Specifically, the Court held that PAGA plaintiffs can force an employer-defendant to turn over the names and contact information of other current and former… Read More
CA Supreme Court Clarifies Employers’ “Day of Rest” Obligations
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court answered some admittedly “unsettled questions” under California law regarding an employer’s obligation to provide a day of rest to employees under California’s day of rest statutes (codified at Labor Code §550-558.1. These statutes prohibit an employer from “caus[ing] his employees to work more than six days in seven” (§552), but do not… Read More
Federal Court Rules that Title VII Protects Gays and Lesbians from Workplace Discrimination
For the first time ever, a federal appellate court has ruled that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination that is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The decision in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College came from the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 8-3 vote. In… Read More
CA Supreme Court: Employees Must Be Relieved of All Duties During Rest Breaks
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ruled in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc. that employers must relieve employees of all work duties during their 10-minute rest breaks. This landmark decision now means that employers must treat rest breaks and meal breaks the same — and that employers must relinquish all control over employees during both… Read More
The Defend Trade Secrets Act Allows Trade Secrets Owners to Sue in Federal Court
A new federal law, called the “Defend Trade Secrets Act” (DTSA), was passed on May 11, 2016. Now, for the first time, trade secret owners can bring civil actions in federal courts for misappropriation of any trade secret that is “related to a product or service used in, or intended for use in, interstate or… Read More
