The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has published a series of Frequently Asked Questions addressing various employment issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DFEH is the California state agency in charge of enforcing the Fair...
Advising And Defending Businesses
Month: March 2021
Transportation Worker May Proceed in Court with Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit Despite Agreement to Arbitrate Claims
On March 22, 2019, a California court of appeal published its decision in Nieto v. Fresno Beverage Company, Inc., affirming a trial court’s order denying an employer’s petition to compel arbitration. The plaintiff, a delivery truck driver, filed a class action lawsuit...
Changes to California’s WARN Act and the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act
On March 17, 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-31-20 that suspended the 60-day notice requirement of California’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act where a covered employer orders a mass layoff, relocation or termination of employees...
California Supreme Court Provides Employers With Formula for Computing Overtime When an Employee Receives a Flat Rate Bonus
In Alvarado v. Dart Container Corporation of California, the employer was sued for improperly paying overtime due to its use of “attendance bonuses” that were given to employees for completing weekend shifts. The employer followed the federal method of...
Template Notice to Employees Under California’s Immigrant Worker Protection Act
We previously wrote about the various obligations that California employers now have as a result of the state’s new Immigrant Worker Protection Act, which became effective on January 1, 2018. Among other things, the new law requires employers to notify employees prior...
Trial Judge Must Address Whether Employer’s Wage Policies Were Sufficiently Uniform to Permit Class Certification
On March 12, 2019, the court of appeal published its decision in Myers v. Raley’s that reversed a trial court’s order denying class certification in a wage and hour case because the trial court failed to “provide the reasons for its ultimate finding.” The maintenance...
Employee May Settle His Individual Wage Claims and Still Sue Under PAGA
On March 12, 2020, the California Supreme Court in Kim v. Reins International California, Inc., held that employees may settle and dismiss their individual claims for Labor Code violations and not lose standing to pursue a claim under the Private Attorneys General Act...
Rediger Labor Law Wins Summary Judgment in Employment Discrimination Case
Attorney Justin R. Rediger prevailed on a motion for summary judgment in a case alleging disability discrimination, racial harassment, and whistleblower retaliation. Judge George J. Abdallah, Jr. of the San Joaquin County Superior Court agreed that there was no...
Employee’s Refusal to Share PAGA Penalties with Aggrieved Employees Results in Dismissal of Lawsuit
On February 27, 2019, a California court of appeal published its decision in Moorer v. Noble L.A. Events Inc., affirming a trial court’s order dismissing the plaintiff’s lawsuit that alleged violations of the Labor Code, Wage Order No. 4, and the Private Attorneys...
Three-Year Statute of Limitations Applies to a Willful Refusal to Pay Overtime Under FLSA
On March 2, 2020, the U. S. Court of Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Scalia v. Employer Solutions Staffing Group, LLC, et al. affirmed a district court’s summary judgment in favor of the U. S. Secretary of Labor against ESSG in an action alleging that...