Employee Rights Blog

In a significant court decision on the status of gig-economy workers, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley concluded on February 8, 2018, that drivers for Grubhub Inc. are independent contractors and not employees under California law. The ruling may have implications for other sharing e...

Workplace Discrimination Case The engineer who was fired by Google after he criticized its diversity policies last August claims in a lawsuit that he and others at the internet giant faced harassment and workplace discrimination due to their conservative political views. This latest lawsuit again...

Age Discrimination Several national reports show that there are actually more Baby Boomers in the workforce than ever before. These reports suggest that it is no longer the norm for workers to retire at age 65–unlike previous generations. With this trend, it is important to review the salient poi...

Salary History Ban – California Law On October 12, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 168 into law, effectively banning employers from asking job applicants about salary history. As we covered in previous posts, the language found in AB 168 has failed to get full endorsement twice before—first ...

Earlier this month, a California court judge issued a tentative decision denying certification of eight subclasses of amusement park workers in Case No. BC505344, Villegas v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp.  Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones did however suggest she would consider certif...

California Court of Appeal finds in Sprunk v. Prisma LLC that a defendant in class action litigation can waive its right to seek arbitration against absent, unnamed class members by deciding not to compel arbitration against the named plaintiff within a reasonable timeframe. Background Maria Spru...

On August 8, 2017, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a press release announcing the settlement of a lawsuit against United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS). The suit alleged disability discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and was settled for...

California is one of several states that require employers to compensate its employees with “reporting time pay.” The applicable Wage Order in California, requires “that on each workday that an employee reports for work, as scheduled, but is not put to work or is furnished less than half of the e...

McDonald's To Pay 2% Of Claim Sought In Overtime PAGA Case McDonald's recently claimed victory in a Los Angeles Superior Court when the judge ordered the company to pay 2% of the $41 million amount workers were seeking in back pay and penalties. The case, Sanchez et al. v. McDonald's Restaurants ...

Overtime Pay  On May 15, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) rejected the City of San Gabriel, California's attempt to appeal a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling. This case started when the City of Gabriel questioned the expansive interpretation of what employers must inclu...

Overtime Pay & Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Activities California Court of Appeals Affirms Trial Court's Ruling in Batze v. Safeway, Inc.–a case about employee exempt vs. non-exempt activities. Background Gary Batze, et al., brought a lawsuit against their employer Safeway/Vons for failure to pay overti...

Employee Reimbursement On March 3, 2017, the Ninth Circuit upheld certification for a California class of O'Reilly Auto Enterprises, LLC store managers and assistant managers. The managers allege they weren't properly reimbursed for business expenses, saying the district court properly considered...

A former Nike store assistant manager who claims she was misclassified as an overtime-exempt employee asked a California federal court on March 2nd to force the company to turn over emails from other workers so she can assess claims under the state's Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).   Case Hi...

Last week, a California judge tentatively rejected Fox's bid to dismiss a longtime Los Angeles local reporter's age discrimination suit, saying she thought the reporter had sufficiently alleged he was discriminated against and that the discrimination forced him to quit his job. Background Last Se...

In the case of Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture, LLC, a California appellate court ruled on February, 28, 2017 that employees paid on a commission basis must be separately compensated for legally required rest periods. Background According to court records, the plaintiffs worked as sales associate...

Wage and Hour Case In Angeles v. US Airways, Inc., a California federal court concludes that the class issues did not predominate, and it decertified the class under Rule 23(b)(3).   Background 2012 – Joseph Timbang Angeles and Noe Lastimosa (Plaintiffs) brought a putative class action suit again...

It's been two weeks since the California Legislature adjourned, bringing the second half of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session to a close. A number of employment-related bills are awaiting Governor Jerry Brown's signature as the September 30th deadline to either veto or sign the bills quickly appr...

California's 2017-2018 legislative session ended with a significant number of new labor and employment laws enacted by both the legislature and Governor Brown. Two such laws effect employers and the processes and forms used to recruit new employees.  Below is a summary of two new laws for Califor...

Earlier this month, Oracle was sued by a former senior finance manager who claims she was terminated in retaliation for complaining about improper accounting practices in its cloud services business. In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the plaintiff Svetlana Blackb...

Sexual Orientation Discrimination – last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed two lawsuits charging employers with discriminating against employees based upon their sexual orientation. This is the first time the EEOC has filed two sex discrimination cases against private...

In Prue v. Brady Co./San Diego, Inc., 196 Cal. Rptr. 3d 68 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015), Adam Prue alleged a wrongful termination claim of his employment based upon a work related injury, which violated the public policy set forth in Labor Code § 132a. Background In April 2013, Prue filed a complaint aga...

California Second District Appellate Court Says Yes… Rules both the employee and the employer can be deemed “prevailing party” in a single Wage and Hour and Equal Pay Act lawsuit. Background Plaintiff, Mahta Sharif, brought an action against her former employer, Mehusa, Inc., for unpaid overtime ...

On September 28, 2105, in Sakkab, et al v. Luxottica Retail North America, Inc., the Ninth Circuit ruled that an employee cannot waive the right to bring a representative action under the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) through an arbitration agreement or any other means. Through it's ruli...

Higgins-Williams v. Sutter Med. Found., 237 Cal. App. 4th 78 (2015) California employers should take notice of the conclusion drawn in the Higgins-Williams case–an employee's claimed inability to work under a supervisor because of the supervisor's causing the employee anxiety and stress during st...

With the introduction of AB 588 and its intent to close so-called “loopholes”, it is important for employees and employers to realize the benefits of PAGA and how it prevents employers from committing labor code violations related to wages, rest periods, health and safety, and retaliation. What I...