Labor & Employment Law

Interview with Guy Kawasaki on Enchanting Human Resources

Posted on March 30, 2011
Apple, Virgin America, 1965 Ford Mustang, and Mike Rowe. These are examples of Guy Kawasaki's idea of Enchantment. In his new book he sets out to help readers understand what enchantment is in order to strive to be enchanting. Some have called it an update of How To Win Friends And Influence People for 2011...

Employers Cannot Avoid Overtime by Dividing A Single Worshift Between Two Different Days or Weeks -- Seymore v. Metson Marine, Inc.

Posted on March 02, 2011
Unlike federal law, California requires premium overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of eight per day and all hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work.  This sets up a potential anomaly for employees who work long graveyard shifts...

Employers Cannot Avoid Overtime by Dividing A Single Workshift Between Two Different Days or Weeks -- Seymore v. Metson Marine, Inc.

Posted on March 02, 2011
Unlike federal law, California requires premium overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of eight per day and all hours worked on the seventh consecutive day of work.  This sets up a potential anomaly for employees who work long graveyard shifts...

US Supreme Court Holds Employers May Be Liable Under "Cat's Paw" Theory

Posted on March 01, 2011
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer can have liability for discrimination based on a 'cat's paw' theory. As the Court explained in its decision Staub v. Proctor Hospital, the theory derives its name from a fable of Aesop. In the fable, a monkey convinces a cat to pull hot chestnuts from a fire (burning its paws in the process) and taking the chestnuts, leaving the cat with nothing for its efforts...

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Employees are Entitled to At Least Two Hours' Compensation for Attending Meetings -- Price v. Starbucks

Posted on February 23, 2011
As we have previously blogged, reporting time pay -- i.e., the requirement to pay a minimum of two to four hours of compensation each time an employee is required to report to work -- is one of the most overlooked requirements of California wage and hour law...

Court Condemns Employer Policies that "Discourage" Meal Breaks -- Tien v. Tenet Healthcare Corporation

Posted on February 19, 2011
The opinion in Tien v. Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a bit of a split decision on meal breaks.  On one hand, the Court upheld the trial court's denial of class certification in a meal break case.  On the other hand, the Court endorsed an interpretation of the meal law in which an employer may be liable merely for creating "a work environment that discourages employees from taking their breaks...

Employees Can Recover At Least Two Hours Per Day For Missed Meal and Rest Breaks -- United Parcel Service v. Superior Court

Posted on February 18, 2011
If anyone were to present an award for the statute that has created the most interpretation issues per word, the meal and rest break provision of Labor Code section 226.7 would have to be a finalist.  The first big issue was how to characterize the one-hour of additional wages provided by the statute...

Caution For Employers Regulating Employee's Internet Activity

Posted on February 09, 2011
Recently, the National Labor Relations Board sued American Medical Response of Connecticut Inc. (AMR) on behalf of an employee who was fired for making negative comments about AMR on the Internet. The NLRB argued that the conduct of the employee was protected as free speech under federal labor laws...

Supreme Court Approves Employee Background Check Questions on Drug Use -- NASA v. Nelson

Posted on January 26, 2011
The plaintiffs in National Aeronautics and Space Administration v. Nelson, claimed that NASA violated their privacy rights by requiring them to answer questions concerning illegal drug use and drug counseling when applying for positions at the renown Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena...

Retaliation by Association is Illegal -- Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP

Posted on January 25, 2011
In Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP, the Supreme Court held that it is an unlawful employment practice under Title VII to terminate an employee's "close family member" in order to retaliate against her for filing a charge of discrimination with the EEOC...

Van Vleck Turner & Zaller Relocates Offices

Posted on January 20, 2011
In the category of VTZ news, we have just finished relocating our offices from downtown LA to the Carthay Circle area of West LA.  Our new contact information is: Van Vleck Turner & Zaller, LLP 6310 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 430 Los Angeles, CA 90048 (323) 592-3505 (Tel...

List of Top 100 Employment Law Blogs Names California Workforce Resource Blog as #24

Posted on January 02, 2011
The fine folks at at The Delaware Employment Law Blog have released their annual list of The Top 100 Employment Law Blogs in the country for 2010.  And I am proud to report that our humble exercise made the list at #24.  The recognition is especially satisfying as we are in the company of some really great blogs...

Trial Courts Have Discretion to Allow Disclosure of Employee Contact Information Without Prior Notice -- County of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission, Service Employees Int'l Union Local 721

Posted on December 29, 2010
In County of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission, Service Employees Int'l Union Local 721 the Second District Court of Appeal held that it was an abuse of discretion to allow a union to discover the names and addresses of non-union employees without "procedural safeguards" -- i...

California Minimum Wage Law Applies to State Employees -- Sheppard v. North Orange County Regional Occupational Program

Posted on December 27, 2010
On December 23, the Fourth District Court of Appeal gave an early Christmas present to government employees by holding that they are covered by the same California minimum wage laws as private employees.  The Court reached this conclusion in Sheppard v...

Employer Cannot Unilaterally Reduce Promised Commission Rates -- McCaskey v. California State Automobile Association

Posted on November 26, 2010
When an employer reserves the right to modify or amend a sales commission plan it create a dangerous conflict of interest with the sales person.  This is especially true where the employer believes it has the ability to unilaterally modify the terms of the agreement even after the employee has already performed his end of the bargain...

California Supreme Court Extends Statute of Limitations for Late Wage Penalties -- Pineda v. Bank of America

Posted on November 19, 2010
Labor Code section 201(a) requires employers to pay final wages "immediately" upon terminating an employee.  Labor Code section 203, in turn, adds "teeth" to this requirement by imposing a "waiting time" formula that continues the unpaid wages for up to 30 days while they remain unpaid...

Monetary PAGA Penalties Appy to Violation of Wage Order Working Condition Provisions -- Bright v. 99 Cent Only Stores

Posted on November 17, 2010
In Bright v. 99 Cent Only Stores, the Second Appellate District reversed the dismissal of a cashier's claim for penalties because her employer failed to give her a place to sit while she was working...

More political activity discrimination -- Keith Olbermann suspended for making campaign contributions

Posted on November 06, 2010
Just a few weeks ago we blogged that NPR's termination of Juan Williams for political comments would likely have been illegal under California law.  Now it seems MSNBC has suspended Keith Olbermann for making campaign contributions.  Once again, California employers (journalistic or otherwise) should think twice about prohibiting campaign donations which would clearly violate California Labor Code section 1102...

Was Juan Williams' Termination By NPR Illegal Under California Law?

Posted on October 22, 2010
NPR announced yesterday that it had terminated "longtime news analyst" Juan Williams because of the views he expressed during a discussion of terrorism and Islam on The O'Reilly Factor.  The specific comment for which he was terminated was apparently the following: "Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot...

Class of Newspaper Reporters Entitled to Overtime -- Wang v. Chinese Daily News

Posted on October 13, 2010
The Ninth Circuit's Decision in Wang v. Chinese Daily News is an important decision on several levels.  One of these is to demonstrate just how difficult it can be for an employer to prove a defense to overtime under the professional exemption...

Labor Code Protections Do Not Apply To Government Employees -- California Correctional Peace Officers Assoc. v. State of California

Posted on September 25, 2010
In California Correctional Peace Officers' Association v. State of California, the correctional officers union brought a class action against the state of California alleging that they were entitled to penalties for missed meal periods under Labor Code section 226...

The Economics of Big Law vs. Boutique Law

Posted on August 26, 2010
Big Firms practice Big Law on behalf of Big Corporations in their own special way.  Those of us who have left these firms to start smaller boutique practices know this only too well.  But for those who haven't had the experience, the flavor is conveyed by an excellent article at Slate...

Seemingly Neutral "Rounding" Rules May Systematically Shortchange Workers

Posted on August 19, 2010
Many companies use time keeping systems (such as the market-leading Kronos software) that "round" employee time entries to the nearest quarter-hour.  For example, if an employee clocks in at 8:53 a.m., the system will credit him as starting work at 9:00 a...

Ninth Circuit Defines Limits of Labor Law Antitrust Exemption -- State of California v. Safeway, Inc.

Posted on August 18, 2010
Unions exist for the purpose of aggregating individual employees into a united front in order to bargain collectively for higher wages.  This is a classic price-fixing agreement which would generally be illegal under the Sherman Act...

Discriminatory "Stray Remarks" May Defeat Summary Judgment -- Reid v. Google

Posted on August 11, 2010
In age discrimination cases, plaintiffs frequently support their claims with evidence of comments by managers such as "you can't teach an old dog new tricks,"  that the company needs "young blood," or referring to some employees as "old timers...

Employers May be Liable for Honoring An Unenforceable Noncompete Agreement With Prior Employer -- Silguero v. Creteguard, Inc.

Posted on August 02, 2010
California takes a dim view of employee non-competion agreements, which are generally unenforceable and against public policy under Business and Professions Code sec. 16600.  Nevertheless, employers (and especially out-of-state employers) persist in including them in employment contracts under the theory that "it can't hurt" to have them as a deterrent and a potential source of leverage...

Some Wage and Hour Claims May Be Insurance Covered -- California Daries, Inc. v. SRUI Indemnity Co.

Posted on July 24, 2010
One of the reasons employers purchase Directors and Officers (D&O) or Employment Practices Liability (EPL) coverage is to protect against employee lawsuits.  And the most important source of exposure for California employers is the seemingly ubiquitous class action lawsuits for Labor Code violations...

Parties Have Flexibility in Allocating Settlement Amounts in Class Actions -- Nordstrom Commission Cases

Posted on July 15, 2010
In traditional litigation a plaintiff is obviously free to settle his differences with the defendant on whatever terms he chooses.  And if a settlement removes the case from an overcrowded docket the Court's normal reaction is to immediately grant a dismissal with a sigh of "good riddance...

California Courts Provide Yet More Guidance on Drafting Class Action Settlements -- Munoz v. BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

Posted on July 15, 2010
In my prior post, I noted that the recent decision in Nordstrom Commission Cases by the Fourth Distrct Court of Appeal had given much needed guidance in drafting class action settlement agreements.  Well, there may be a trend afoot because the Second DCA has now weighed in with Munoz v...

Promoting A Product Without The Ability to Close a Sale is not Exempt "Outside Sales" Activity -- In re Novartis Wage and Hour Litigation

Posted on July 12, 2010
Pharmaceutical representatives (aka "drug reps") are an unusual breed.  Their job duties are essentially the same as travelling salesmen -- i.e., visiting potential customers to sing the praises of their employer's products.  But it is only after these visits that the doctors will write prescriptions for their individual patients, which will be filled by independent pharmacists...

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