On October 10, 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 51 into law, prohibiting employers from requiring employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. You can read our take on the new law here. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss reassessing the pros and cons of mandatory employment arbitration. So stay tuned.
9th Circuit Says McDonald’s Doesn’t Employ Franchisee’s Employees
In Salazar v. McDonald’s Corp., the plaintiff argued that McDonald’s, a franchisor of fast food restaurants, was liable for wage and hour violations as a “joint employer” of its franchisees’ employees. Last week, a panel of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument.
The court relied on the California Supreme Court’s
AB 5 Will Reshape Worker Classifications
Today, Governor Newsom signed AB 5 into law, drastically altering how millions of Californians are paid and drastically altering the legal analysis involved in distinguishing between “employees” and “independent contractors.” Daniel Kitzes and Brian Casillas have prepared a thoughtful analysis of this new law. You can read it here.
If you have workers in
Employers Provided with Extra Time to Comply with California’s New Harassment Prevention Training Requirements
In 2018, California passed numerous pieces of legislation in response to the #MeToo movement that expanded the obligations of employers to provide sexual harassment prevention training. SB 1343 is one such piece of legislation that went into effect this year and requires that all California employers with five or more employees provide at least two
CA Supreme Court Continues its Assault on Arbitration Agreements
“Unconscionability” is alive and well, as last week the California high Court renewed its 30-year running dog fight with the U.S. Supreme Court over the enforceability of arbitration agreements. In One Toyota of Oakland v. Kho (“OTO”), the California Court struck down an arbitration agreement as “unconscionable,” and allowed an employee to proceed
Litigating Sex Harassment in the #MeToo Era
The #MeToo movement started more than a year and a half ago. Somewhat surprisingly, the number of sexual harassment cases filed has not increased significantly. However, we’ve seen significant changes in how those cases get handled and resolved. For one thing, more claims get resolved before litigation gets filed. Employers who want to avoid
New Advances on Parental Leave Policies
Father’s Day came early for the class of new dads who settled their gender discrimination lawsuit last week regarding JPMorgan Chase’s parental leave policy. As we discussed here, this lawsuit, and the one against Estee Lauder that settled last year, shed light on the importance of treating new parents equally in the workplace, regardless
Employment Litigation Lessons from the Game of Thrones Finale
In reading all of the online reviews about the Game of Thrones finale, I was struck by one overarching theme – you just can’t please everyone. In that regard, it reminded me a lot of employment litigation. Spoiler alert!
Some fans thought the ending was too clean and tidy, too happy in some respects, with
Roadmap to Expansion – Independent Contractors From Top to Bottom
The California Supreme Court decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court continues to change the legal landscape. On May 2, 2019, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal revived a decade old lawsuit, Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l., applying Dynamex’s ABC test retroactively and dismissing substantial due process concerns. While dismissing the
Website Accessibility: Make Sure Your Website and Job Application Portal is Accessible
If you had asked me a few years ago about ADA accessibility lawsuits, I would have talked about the importance of ensuring your business’s seating, aisles, and restrooms complied with the ADA accessibility guidelines. Although plaintiffs continue to file lawsuits alleging barriers to physical accessibility, over the past two years, a new type of accessibility