California - General

On September 10, 2014, California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. signed into law the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 ("California paid sick leave act") with an effective date of January 1, 2015. With the signing of this law, California becomes the second state to mandate that certain

By its own declaration, the California Legislature finished its 2013-2014 session in the early morning hours of Saturday, August 30 – a day early. Those bills it passed are now on the way to, or pending before, Governor Jerry Brown. The Legislature is in recess, with adjournment scheduled for Novemb

On August 28, 2014, the Supreme Court of California, in Patterson v. Domino's Pizza, LLC, decided whether a franchisor was entitled to summary judgment on the plaintiff's claims that the franchisor was vicariously liable for alleged tortious conduct by the franchisee's employee. In a 4-3 decision, t

A California Court of Appeal recently issued a decision in Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Services, Inc., B247160 (Aug. 12, 2014) that took an expansive view of an employer’s obligation to reimburse employees’ business expenses. The trial court determined that no expense was incurred, and no reimbursement

The California Legislature returned from its summer recess on August 4 for the sprint through the last days of the final year of the 2013-2014 session.

Executive Summary: A California Appeal Court has held that employees are only required to show that they were required to use their personal cell phone for work-related calls to be entitled to reimbursement under California Labor Code § 2802. In reaching this conclusion, the appeal court held that i

A lawsuit against a trucking company for allegedly misclassifying drivers as independent contractors under California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) was not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (“FAAAA”), the California Supreme Court has ruled unanimously. P.

Whether the parties to an arbitration agreement agreed to class arbitration is a question for the arbitrator, not the trial court, the California Court of Appeal has ruled, reversing an order dismissing class claims alleging violations of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act and Unfair Compe

In its first employment-related class certification decision since its seminal ruling in Duran v. U.S. Bank,1 the California Supreme Court, in a fragmented opinion, reversed the denial of class certification for a group of newspaper delivery carriers who alleged they were employees misclassified as

A California appellate court recently issued a warning to employees who try to negotiate settlements with their employers by making veiled threats to report an employer's real or imagined criminal activity. In Stenehjem v. Sareen, No. H038342 (Cal. Ct. App. June 13, 2014), the court held that an emp

A clause delegating to an arbitrator the authority to decide questions of an arbitration agreement’s enforceability was not unconscionable under California law, the California Court of Appeal has ruled. Malone v. Superior Court, No. B253891 (Cal. Ct. App. June 17, 2014).

The Federal Arbitration Act preempts California law disfavoring enforcement of a class action waiver in employment arbitration agreements, the California Supreme Court has held, overruling its prior holding to the contrary in Gentry v. Superior Court, 42 Cal. 4th 443 (2007). Iskanian v. CLS Transp.

On June 10, 2014, the trial court judge in Vergara v. State of California issued a decision striking down as unconstitutional five provisions of the California Education Code regarding public school teacher tenure procedures.1 The plaintiffs, nine California public school students, argued that the f

An employer that petitioned to compel arbitration one year after the employee filed his employment-related complaint did not waive its right to arbitrate the complaint, the California Court of Appeal has ruled, confirming the burden of proving a party waived its right to arbitration is a heavy one.

As the days grow warmer, California employers with outdoor places of employment should think about compliance with California’s Heat Illness Prevention Regulations (Cal. Code of Regs. tit. 8, § 3395). To comply with the regulations, California employers should take four essential steps:

A trial court lacked authority to rule on the enforceability of an arbitration agreement when the parties had contracted to delegate questions about the agreement’s enforceability to the arbitrator, the California Court of Appeal has ruled, reversing the denial of arbitration in a wrongful discharge

An arbitration and confidentiality agreement provided to car wash workers was unconscionable and unenforceable, the California Court of Appeal has ruled, denying arbitration in a class action for alleged California wage-hour law violations. Carmona v. Lincoln Millennium Car Wash, Inc., No. B248143 (

The California Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in an appeal brought by a former employee who claims the lower courts incorrectly determined that his disability discrimination claim was barred because he misappropriated someone else’s Social Security number to apply for the job.

In Lane v. Francis Capital Mgmt. LLC (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 11, 2014), a California Court of Appeal held a former employee’s claim for unpaid wages were exempted from arbitration by California Labor Code section 229.

Even though American Arbitration Association rules were not attached to an arbitration agreement and the agreement did not expressly provide for discovery, the California Court of Appeal has found a former employee’s arbitration agreement with his employer was valid and reversed the trial court’s de