Labor & Employment Law Blog

Last year Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2337, requiring employers to provide employees with a notice regarding the availability of domestic violence victim leave. The notice must be provided to new hires and other employees upon request.  The notice requirement took effect July 1, 2017, with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (“DLSE” otherwise known as the Labor Commissioner ...

Late last year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) issued a final rule revising Form I-9 and the list of documents that are acceptable to verify identity and employment authorization.  Beginning September 18, 2017, all employers must use the revised I-9 Form dated “7/17/2017 N” for new hires or rehires.  The new Forms, Instructions, and related documents may be ...

The minimum wage rates in 10 localities in California are set to increase effective July 1, 2017.  The increases are as follows:

• Emeryville: $14.00 per hour (for employers with 55 or fewer employees); $15.20 per hour (for employers with 56 or more employees).
• Milpitas: $11.00 per hour
• San Francisco: $14.00 per hour
• San Jose: $12.00 per hour
• San Leandro: $12.00 per hour
• Los Angeles (City): $12.00 per hour (for ...

On May 16, 2017, the Court of Appeals held that a company that obtains workers from a temporary staffing agency can enforce the arbitration agreement entered into between the temporary workers and the staffing agency.  See Garcia v. Pexco, LLC, No. G052872, 2017 WL 1435788 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 24, 2017).

The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that an appellate court must review a district court’s decision whether to enforce a subpoena issued by the EEOC under an abuse of discretion standard rather than de novo review which provided no deference to the district court’s decision.  McLane Co. v. the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 137 S. Ct. 1159 (2017).

Facts and Procedural Background

In ...

Many employers purchase Employment Practices Liability Insurance (“EPLI”) polices to protect themselves against employment-related lawsuits by current or former employees or job applicants, such as claims of alleged discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination.

The “Claims Made and Reported” Time Trap.

EPLI policies are often written on a “claims made and ...

Two recent decisions by California courts concluded employees who signed pre-dispute arbitration agreements with their employers could not be compelled to arbitrate their individual PAGA (the Private Attorney’s General Act of 2004 [Labor Code section 2698, et seq.]) claims against their employer.

Recently, after years of litigation, the California Court of Appeal published its decision approving See’s Candy Shops, Inc.’s (“See’s”) rounding and grace-period policies.  (Silva v. See’s Candy Shops, Inc. (2016) 7 Cal. App. 5th 235).

The court previously approved See’s rounding policy in 2012, in See's Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 889, but left open the ...

Recently, the California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”) published two FAQs addressing minimum wage increases under California law to assist employers with the implementation of the new rates going into effect between 2017 and 2023.

As of January 1, 2017, the State minimum wage increased to $10.50 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees.  The State minimum wage remains at $10.00 per ...

On February 8, 2017, the Supreme Court announced it will schedule oral arguments in its review of class action waivers in the 2017 Supreme Court session, which starts in October.  In January, the Court announced it would review three cases involving whether class action waivers that are required as a condition of employment in individual employee arbitration agreements violate federal labor law.

In 2012, the ...