The plaintiffs’ attorneys in a class action were denied attorney’s fees because some of the attorneys failed to disclose their lack of professional liability insurance to the client at the time the client retained the attorney. The Court of Appeal concluded the...
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Employment
Sexual Harassment Training Now Applies to Small Businesses
Employers with 5 or more employees (not including independent contractors), must provide at least 2 hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisory employees and at least one hour of sexual harassment training to all non-supervisory employees by January 1,...
Employers can now inquire into an applicant’s salary history (Labor Code §432.3, 1197.5)§
Prior law prohibiting an employer from asking or relying upon the applicant’s salary history is modified. Employers may now inquire into an applicant’s salary expectation for the position being applied for such as for seniority or merit. Sexual based salary decisions...
Cannot Require, Induce or Condition employment upon the signing of a release or non-disparagement agreement unless part of an existing dispute. (Govt. Code 12964.5)
An employer cannot require the execution of a release or non-disparagement agreement in exchange for any condition of employment and broadened non-employee harassment. Changes to the laws concerning harassment, discrimination, etc. (Government Code § 12940, 12965,...
Professionalism Trumps Freedom of speech in the court room (which is a good thing) Bus. Code §6068(b)
The moral fiber of our society continues to degrade. The following is an attorney ethics issue and as a reminder attorney’s are held to a higher standard. After a trial on a sexual harassment claim resulting in an $8,080 jury verdict, and a $7,000 costs award,...
Starbucks Must Pay for All Employee’s Work, even if just a drip of time! (Troester v. Starbucks Corp. (2018) 5 Cal.5th 829)
In Troester v. Starbucks Corp. (2018) 5 Cal.5th 829 the California Supreme Court answered a legal question sent to it from the Federal Court asking if the relevant wage order and statutes. The Court held that California does not adopt the federal FLSA permitting...
FEHA employee protections against adverse attorney fee/cost awards trump CCP 998
Arave v. Merrill Lynch (2018) 19 Cal.App.5th 525 reinforces that in labor law employees have nothing to lose from suing. Plaintiff sued his employer under FEHA and lost. The defendant employer previously served a CCP 998 offer to settle of $100,000 which was...
Attorney Fees Denied to Employee who proved discrimination but did not win any monetary damages
In Bustos v. Global P.E.T. (2018) 19 CA5 th 558 an employee who proved discrimination as a motivating factor due to his disability (carpal tunnel syndrome vs. employer who said it was an economic lay off) lost an award of attorneys fees and costs under Harris v. City...
Employees Cannot Sue Temp Company then sue its Client Company! (Castillo v. Glenair 22 Cal.App.5th 348)
Finally, a common sense ruling. After settling a class action lawsuit against temporary staffing agency, workers brought wage and hour putative class action raising identical claims against the client-company where they had been placed to work. The Court of Appeal...
New Independent Contractor vs. Employee Test: Dynamex Operations
The California Supreme Court changed the test to determine what is an independent contractor vs. employee to a new “ABC” test. The 2nd prong, is the tough one for employers. Dynamex Operations West, Inc. involved a trucking company which changed its policy from...