The California Supreme Court will soon hear oral argument on the much-anticipated Adolph (Erik) v. Uber Technologies, Inc., (Uber), accepting Justice Sotomayor’s invitation in Viking River Cruises to have the “last word” on whether an employee forced to arbitrate their individual Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims maintains statutory standing to pursue
While perhaps overlooked in favor of other high-profile rulings (we’re looking at you, Viking River Cruises), the California Supreme Court’s decision in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., No. S258966 (Cal. May. 23, 2022) may turn out to be one of the most significant cases of the year for California employers. As we
Consistent with its previous rulings on the Labor Code, on May 23 the California Supreme Court held, in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., that an employee who successfully sues to recover unpaid meal premiums under Labor Code § 226.7 will also be entitled to derivative wage statement and waiting time penalties under Labor
In Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., 76 Cal. App. 5th 685 (2022), the California Court of Appeal, in relevant part, reversed a trial court’s order decertifying a subclass and dismissing related Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims as unmanageable. In doing so, the court held “a court cannot strike a PAGA claim based
On Sept. 9, 2021, the California Court of Appeal in Wesson v. Staples The Office Superstore, LLC, supported what employers have been arguing since Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims became the norm in wage and hour litigation: courts can and should strike PAGA actions if they are unmanageable.
Summary of the case:
The
In a blow to California’s commercial trucking industry, the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that California law relating to whether workers can be classified as employees is not preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (the “FAAAA”). As a result, it will remain difficult under California’s current test for transportation companies to establish
In Bernstein v. Virgin America, Inc., on February, 23, 2021, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that’s a mixed bag for employers. Bernstein v. Virgin Am., Inc., No. 19-15382, 2021 WL 867583 (9th Cir. Feb. 23, 2021).
First, on the positive side, the panel reversed the district court’s ruling that Virgin American, Inc.
Much has been written cautioning employers about the twin holdings of Donohue v. AMN Services LLC, in which the California Supreme Court said on Feb. 25 that employers “cannot engage in the practice of rounding time punches … in the meal period context,” and a “rebuttable presumption of meal period violations” will apply when
In the wake of the California Supreme Court’s decision further clarifying whether the state’s wage statement law applies to certain employees residing in California, the Ninth Circuit elaborated that federal law does not override state law on this issue. The circuit court decision builds further upon the California court’s development of the Ward test, which
On Jan. 14, 2021, the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling on whether the “ABC test” articulated in its 2018 Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles decision applies retroactively. At stake is the status of thousands of workers classified as independent contractors prior to Dynamex. Would these workers’ classifications