Category Archives: Labor and 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 […]

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 […]

2019 has been a busy year in the employment law front. We update you on two substantial updates that impact employers and employees alike: (1) the legislative pronouncement of the reach of the ABC Test on independent contractor classification and (2) the brief extension for small employers to provide mandatory sexual harassment training. Independent Contractor […]

We have written previous articles over the past year discussing the groundbreaking April 30, 2018, California Supreme Court decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v Superior Court of Los Angeles which, in practice, significantly increases the liability risk and damages exposure to individuals or businesses seeking to classify workers as independent contractors. The Dynamex decision […]

On December 28, 2018, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the “DC Circuit”) issued its long-awaited opinion concerning the appeal of the National Labor Relation Board’s 2015 ruling on the “joint employer” test. (See, https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/A1D3A01EDFAB1B8A852583710055207A/$file/16-1028-1766137.pdf) “Joint employment” in essence occurs when two or more individuals or companies are involved […]

Two new California laws demonstrate the widespread impact of the #MeToo Movement and the focus on putting a stop to sexual harassment in the workplace. SB 820: Prohibiting “Hush Money” Settlements Many articles and investigative reports have been published about prominent public figures, politicians and other famous (or infamous) persons with an apparent history of […]