Labor & Employment Law Blog

In Fleming Distribution Co. v. Younan (Cal. Ct. App., May 15, 2020, No. A157038) 2020 WL 2511680, the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District held that an employer waived its right to compel arbitration of a dispute with a former employee over unpaid commissions by delaying the filing of a motion to compel arbitration and actively participating in an administrative proceeding before the Labor Commissioner.

The Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor (the “DOL”) withdrew Sections 779.317 and 779.320 from the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) which categorically excluded certain businesses from the retail sales exemption for payment of overtime compensation under Section 7(i). 

In our April 8, 2020 blog post we relayed information about the California Judicial Council’s issuance of Emergency Rules that, among other things, suspended statutes of limitations on civil cases in California until 90 days after Governor Newsom lifted the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic (“Emergency Rule 9”). 

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently signed into law Ordinance No. 186602 and Ordinance No. 186603, which give certain laid-off workers a right of recall (i.e. hire priority).  The ordinances take effect on June 14, 2020, and apply to employees working within the City of Los Angeles. 

On Friday, May 29, 2020, the California Department of Public Health approved Los Angeles County’s variance request to move further into Stage Two of the California Resiliency Roadmap, allowing Los Angeles County restaurants to provide in-person dining service and hair salons and barbershops to reopen.

On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the Los Angeles County Health Officer issued an Order moving the County into Stage 2 of Governor Newsom’s 4 Stage California Pandemic Resilience Roadmap. The Order is effective immediately and until further notice within all cities and unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, except for the cities of Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own public health officers and orders that businesses in those cities must comply with.  Long Beach and Pasadena released their own revised orders, which closely track the Los Angeles County Health Officer Order, and are respectively available here and here. 

On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the Health Officer of the County of San Diego issued an “Order of the Health Officer and Emergency Regulations.” The Order requires additional protections for the public, provides additional recreational activity opportunities, and provides increased protections for employees and customers/clients of essential and re-opened businesses by increasing the requirements for facial coverings, health checks, and temperature screening.

On May 12, 2020, the Oakland City Council approved an ordinance establishing emergency paid sick leave for Oakland employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Oakland now joins several other jurisdictions in California in taking action to supplement the emergency sick leave already provided by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

The counties of Fresno, Napa, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Solano, Sonoma, and Ventura are the latest to join the growing group of counties which have sought and received variances from the California Department of Public Health to proceed into California’s Advanced Stage 2 reopening.  The variances generally authorize restaurants to re-open for dining-in and retailers to re-open for in-store shopping across the eight counties.  A few of the counties’ Orders also permit additional types of businesses to reopen.

The City of Long Beach, California enacted a new supplemental paid sick leave ordinance on May 19, 2020, which is effective immediately.  The ordinance applies to employers with 500 or more employees nationally and excludes those who are required to provide paid sick leave benefits under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act.