It’s that time of year again. Time for holiday parties, ugly sweaters, and summaries of legal developments.
The #MeToo movement has resulted in a slew of new bills addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. They include:
No lazy Sunday for Governor Jerry Brown! Today he signed four new bills into law, taking major steps to combat sexual harassment in the wake of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. Here is a brief overview of the new laws and what they mean for California employers:
I was in court last week for a status conference in a wage-and-hour class action, and was talking to my opposing counsel, an active litigator in this arena. I asked him if the new California Supreme Court case rejecting the de minimis standard was going to be big business for him.
His candid response surprised
In Epic Systems v. Lewis, the U.S. Supreme Court recently approved the use of arbitration agreements that include class action waivers. So this seems an opportune time to reassess the pros and cons for employers of using mandatory workplace arbitration agreements.
The Pros
On Fox’s entertainment industry-focused Pay or Play blog, associate Laurie Baddon wrote a post covering recent reports on employment agreements signed by news anchors working at television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Laurie breaks down the controversial elements of the agreements, and examines them in the context of California employment law.
To get a
The Fair Labor Standards Act now permits back-of house employees to participate in mandatory tip pools, provided no tip credit is taken against minimum wage. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 budget bill effectively amends the FLSA to clarify two important points: back of house employees MAY participate in certain tip pools however supervisor/manager/owners MAY NOT
Calculating the correct overtime pay rate in California has long been a complicated process. The basic overtime rate is defined as one and a half times an employee’s “regular rate” of pay. This purportedly “regular” figure may change from pay period to pay period when an employee earns shift differentials, different hourly rates for
It’s been five months since the #MeToo movement burst onto the scene. Since then, the headlines have been dominated with accusations of grossly inappropriate behavior by prominent politicians, entertainers, business people, and others. So it’s somewhat surprising that, according to acting EEOC Commissioner Victoria Lipnic (as reported in Law360 (subscription required)), the number of
A disabled employee asks her employer for an accommodation. After engaging in the interactive process, it becomes clear that the accommodation requested is going to be challenging. At what point can the employer say “no” to an accommodation request because it creates an undue hardship?
If the accommodation is cost prohibitive, that can be enough
Plaintiffs’ attorneys in California love making claims based on technical violations related to paystubs. An employee will go see a lawyer complaining about wrongful termination or harassment or discrimination and the lawyer will say, “Let me see your paystub.” Labor Code Section 226 lists at least 9 items that an employer must include on employees’