Category Archives: Labor and Employment

On September 8, 2023, the California Court of Appeal, in a case entitled Doe v. Superior Court of San Francisco (No. A167105)  issued another decision constraining an employer’s ability to enforce binding arbitration agreements against employees. The decision compliments a July 2023 Court of Appeal opinion, Cvejic v. Skyview Capital, LLC (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 1073. […]

Both locally and nationally, a growing trend continues that disfavors confidentiality, nondisclosure, and nondisparagement provisions in settlement agreements and releases – even if such terms are part of a bargained-for-exchange between the parties.  On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in McLaren Macomb in which it found certain nondisparagement and […]

On September 27, 2022, Governor Newsom signed SB 1162. The new law, which became effective January 1, 2023, has broad new requirements for all California employers regarding the tracking and retention of employee pay information.  Additional, more onerous requirements are detailed for employers depending on their number of employees, as outlined below. Requirements for All […]

California has once again passed several new employment laws that became effective January 1, 2023.  In this survey article, we highlight (1) state minimum wage increases, (2) the new “designated person” addition under California paid sick leave and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), and (3) expanded bereavement leave.  California’s new pay transparency law, also […]

In 2004, California enacted the Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”), a law that allows private individuals to bring enforcement actions on behalf of California’s Labor Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”).  Since its enactment, the law has been used to curb violations of the California Labor Code while simultaneously serving as a boon to many plaintiff-side employment […]

California is generally known as one of the more employee-friendly jurisdictions, and some commentators have opined that mandatory arbitration is at odds with California’s worker-protection public policy. In fact, two race discrimination lawsuits filed by former employees against Tesla, Inc., with largely similar facts of colleagues/supervisors using racial slurs against the plaintiffs and other Black […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]