In a victory for whistleblowers, a unanimous US Supreme Court has held that a whistleblower invoking the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, 18 U.S.C. §1514A(a) (SOX) is not required to prove that his or her employer acted with...more
This past month, the California Supreme Court granted a petition to review the Court of Appeal’s decision in Camp v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.
As we wrote about previously, the Court of Appeal in Camp departed from a...more
California’s new pay transparency law requiring disclosure of pay scales in job openings went into effect on January 1, 2023. The new law requires California employers to disclose the pay range for a job if an applicant asks...more
2/10/2023
/ California ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Transparency ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On September 29, 2022, California Governor Newsom signed into law the Motor Vehicle Digital Number Plates Act (AB 984), which will give the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) authority to move forward with new vehicle...more
Governor Newsom signed SB 1162 into law on September 27 (effective January 1, 2023), imposing several new wage transparency reporting requirements on employers in California, and aligning California with Washington, Colorado,...more
10/17/2022
/ Bureau of Labor Statistics ,
California ,
Governor Newsom ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
NAICS ,
New Legislation ,
Noncompliance ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Transparency ,
Penalties ,
Remote Working ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
A Ninth Circuit panel that previously upheld a California law prohibiting mandatory employment arbitration agreements in the workplace withdrew its decision and ordered the matter to be resubmitted for a panel rehearing. ...more
The US Supreme Court has held that airline cargo loaders who load and unload cargo from planes that travel across state lines are exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) because they belong to a “class of workers...more
The California Supreme Court has held that the standard for assessing whistleblower retaliation claims under California Labor Code section 1102.5 is not the McDonnell Douglas test, but the more plaintiff-friendly standard...more
2/14/2022
/ Appeals ,
CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Labor Code ,
McDonnell Douglas Formula ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari to address the important question of whether the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") requires the enforcement of an arbitration agreement that would require representative...more
On October 7, 2021, Governor Newsom signed the Silenced No More Act (SB-331), which expands existing restrictions on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in settlement agreements based on claims of workplace...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a preliminary injunction issued in January 2020 that prohibited California from enforcing Assembly Bill 51 (“AB 51”), which barred employers from requiring employees to sign...more
In November 2020, California voters passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 22, by an overwhelming majority. Proposition 22 exempts certain app-based drivers from the requirements of California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) by...more
Two recent California appellate decisions will impact wage and hour class actions and representative actions.
Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC -
California law requires that employers “must generally provide employees with...more
In Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court 4 Cal. 5th 903 (2018), the California Supreme Court held that any individual who performs work for a person or entity is presumed to be an employee who falls within the...more
Garner v. Inter-State Oil Co., 52 Cal.App.5th 619, Cal. App. 3 Dist., June 26, 2020, as modified (Jul 23, 2020) -
Plaintiff filed a class action alleging that his employer, Inter-State Oil Co., violated a variety of wage...more
1/7/2021
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Breach of Contract ,
Breach of Duty ,
CAFA ,
California ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Costco ,
Data Theft ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Wage and Hour
The Federal Circuit Court has issued an opinion invalidating a post-employment invention assignment provision in an employment agreement because the assignment provision violated California law disfavoring restrictive...more
On November 19, 2020, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (the Board) unanimously approved a set of emergency COVID-19 safety regulations that significantly expand the responsibilities of most...more
12/3/2020
/ Cal-OSHA ,
Contact Tracing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Training ,
Labor Regulations ,
Masks ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Remote Working ,
Social Distancing ,
Telecommuting ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Yesterday, the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division proposed a new rule designed to “bring clarity and consistency to the determination of who’s an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards...more
SB 1159 expands the presumption of workers’ compensation liability for employees who contract COVID-19 due to a workplace outbreak.
A. Presumption of Workers’ Compensation Coverage for Certain COVID-19 Cases -
New...more