In a recent ruling, the California Court of Appeals in Rodriguez v. Packers Sanitation Service, Ltd. allowed an employee who had signed a mandatory employment agreement to avoid having to arbitrate his PAGA claim. The Court’s reasoning was that, by pleading his PAGA claim as a representative claim…
California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) deputizes any employee who has experienced a violation of virtually any state employment law to sue to recover penalties arising out of violations he or she experienced – plus penalties arising out of violations committed against every one of his or her…
The California Supreme Court recently issued its highly anticipated decision in Adolph v. Uber and answered the key question of whether the California courts would follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Viking River. The California Supreme Court’s answer was a resounding “NO.” Now, after Adolph v. Uber,…
California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (known as the “Paid Sick Leave Law” or “PSLL”) requires employers to provide employees, with a few narrow exceptions, three days of paid sick leave each year. The PSLL does not give employees a private right of action, meaning that employees can’t…
California Courts are Refusing to Follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s Viking River Decision, which means that U.S. Supreme Court decision may not offer employers a clever PAGA escape hatch after all.
On June 15, 2022, in a blockbuster case known as Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, the U.S. Supreme Court finally answered a burning employment law issue here in California – whether California’s rule prohibiting the use of arbitration agreements to force an employee to waive her right…
California’s 2021 legislative session has ended, and with it came a number of new wage and hour laws going into effect on January 1, 2022. Each of these latest Assembly Bills (“AB”) and Senate Bills (“SB”) impact employers in various industries. California employers should review and plan to…
California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) authorizes aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for violations of the California Labor Code. Lawsuits brought under PAGA have resulted in employers paying millions of dollars in penalties that…
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…
California employment law is notoriously volatile. The ever-changing landscape – especially as related to Labor Code violations and cases brought under California’s wide-ranging Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”), which authorizes representative actions for Labor Code violations – can make it challenging for employers to find certainty in how…