On May 2, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc. applied the California Supreme Court’s April 2018 Dynamex decision retroactively. In Dynamex, the Supreme Court created the “ABC...
Advising And Defending California Businesses
Year: 2021
A “Class Action” Requires Plaintiffs Show More Than Workers Were Misclassified
On July 15, 2019, a California court of appeal in McCleery v. Allstate Insurance Co. affirmed a trial court’s order that denied the plaintiffs’ motion to certify their wage and hour lawsuit as a class action. The plaintiffs alleged they were engaged by three service...
NLRB Affords Employers Greater Leeway in Addressing Abusive Conduct By Employees
On July 21, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in General Motors LLC, established a new standard for determining whether employees have been lawfully disciplined or discharged when making abusive or offensive statements, including profane, racist, and...
New Law Will Prohibit Employers from Discriminating Based on Hairstyle
On July 3, 2019, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill No. 188 amending California’s anti-discrimination laws so that the definition of “race” will include “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and...
Ninth Circuit Makes Clear That Employees Must Be Paid for All Time Worked
On June 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Rodriguez v. Nike Retail Services, Inc., reversed s summary judgment in favor of Nike in a class action lawsuit seeking compensation for the time employees had to undergo exit inspections every time they left the...
Employee Who is “Potentially Disabled” May Proceed to Trial Over His Claims
On June 10, 2019, a California court of appeal in Ross v. County of Riverside reversed a lower court’s grant of summary judgement in favor of an employer because it found that questions of fact existed over whether an employee was “physically disabled” and entitled to...
New California Labor Laws for Salons Take Effect on July 1, 2017
If you’re doing business in California, you probably don’t need an employment lawyer to tell you that the state legislature continues to pass very employee-protective labor laws. Two more are about to take effect on July 1, 2017, that will affect businesses regulated...
Employer May Bar Union Organizers From Public Areas on its Property
On June 14, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board in UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside held that an employer may bar nonemployees from soliciting its employees on behalf of a union on company property that is open to the public, provided the employer applies its policy...
PAGA Action Seeking Only Civil Penalties Will Not Be Compelled to Arbitration
On June 19, 2020, the Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District in Olabi v. Neutron Holdings, Inc. affirmed a trial court’s order denying an employer’s petition to compel arbitration of a lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff and other workers had been...
Federal Law Prohibits Discrimination Based on Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Status
On June 15, 2020, the U. S. Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia held that an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Court explained that because discrimination on the...
