The issue of independent contractor classification is, perhaps unfortunately, something that many Californians have become too well versed in during recent years.  To briefly recap, the issue gained renewed focus with the California Supreme Court’s, April 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v Superior Court.  There the Court ruled employers bore the burden of […]

Many of our clients may not know that the recent stimulus bill known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “Act”) includes new trademark legislation that will have a sweeping impact on trademark owners.  Specifically, the Act incorporates the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”), which includes many substantive changes to the Lanham (Trademark) […]

Employment law in the best of times presents an ever-changing landscape, but with the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollout, it can be especially challenging for workers and employers. As a general, regularly-updated informational resource for California workers and employers, we recommend the website created by the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency on Coronavirus 2019 […]

Over 370 bills were signed into law in California this year. With about as many new laws taking effect on January 1, 2021 – and everything else that has happened in 2020 – to say there is plenty to track would be an understatement. There are two particularly notable laws affecting our common interest development […]

Those who are or use independent contractors (“IC”) know that effective January 1, 2020, Assembly Bill 5 (“AB 5”) codified the ABC Test for classifying ICs and expanded its application to all Labor Code claims, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the Wage Orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. See, e.g., Cal. Lab. Code § 2750.3 […]

On September 8, 2020, in a case entitled State of New York et al. v. Scalia etal. (Case No. 1:20 cv-01689-GHW), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) “final rule” (the “Rule”) concerning vertical joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Here […]

Recently we have been seeing and hearing about a proliferation of fraudulent scams. Sadly, this is almost certainly the result of more (indeed nearly all) people working from home these days. I’ll explain the two frauds we have witnessed below but if you take one thing away, it is to always independently verify wire requests […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought seismic changes to nearly every facet of our lives. The same has been true for federal and local employment laws. Although the law typically evolves and changes at a near glacial pace, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced new sick leave laws in a matter of weeks that would have before […]

A relatively unknown area of trademark law could potentially hold significant liability exposure for landlords. In a recent case, Luxottica Grp., S.P.A. v. Airport Minim Mall, LLC, 932F.3d 1303, 2019 U.S.P.Q.2d 292644 (11th Cir. 2019), landlords were found to have contributorily infringed Oakley and Ray Ban trademarks on counterfeit sunglasses being sold by their tenants. […]

AB 5 … Again! There is no doubt that the California Legislature has passed some sweeping legislation during their past session. Among the most disruptive is AB 5, which our colleague, Denis Kenny, writes about in detail above in this edition of Perspectives. What most people may not be aware of, however, is that AB […]