Advising And Defending California Businesses
On August 29, 2019, the California Supreme Court in a 6-1 decision in Oto, LLC v. Kho, refused to compel arbitration of an employee’s wage complaint that had been filed with the California Labor Commissioner. The Oto court found that “the oppressive...
The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2020-5 to address the obligations of employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act to keep track of time worked by employees who are working from remote locations. If...
On August 1, 2018, the court of appeal in Nishiki v. Danko Meredith, APC reduced an employee’s Labor Commissioner award for waiting time penalties to $2,250, but awarded an additional amount of $86,160 for attorney fees against the employer. The former employee...
On July 26, 2018, the California Supreme Court in Troester v. Starbucks Corp., held that the de minimis doctrine, recognized as a defense to a claim for unpaid wages under federal law, is not applicable to claims for unpaid wages brought under California law. In...
On August 20, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Valtierra v. Medtronic Inc. affirmed a summary judgment in favor of an employer where the plaintiff alleged he was fired because of his morbid obesity in violation of the Americans With...
On August 13, 2019, a court of appeal in Mejia v. Merchants Building Maintenance affirmed a trial court’s order denying the defendants’ motion to compel arbitration. The plaintiff was a union member covered by a collective bargaining agreement that required employees...
On August 1, 2019, a court of appeal in Scott v. City of San Diego reversed an award of attorney’s fees in the amount of $51,946.96 to an employer after it prevailed in a jury trial over claims of race discrimination and retaliation under the Fair Employment and...
On July 31, 2019, a court of appeal in L’Chaim House, Inc. v. Division of Labor Standards Enforcement held that employers in the public housekeeping industry covered by Wage Order No. 5 must provide meal periods of at least 30 minutes to their employees, regardless of...
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...
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...