Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court held that a plaintiff whose individual PAGA claims are compelled to arbitration retains standing to pursue representative PAGA claims in court in Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc., meaning that their claims may live on way past the first volley.
Wimbledon may be over but, on Monday, the California Supreme Court returned Viking River
Continue Reading California Takes the Match With Adolph RulingSeyfarth Summary: Like the singers in “California Dreamin,” many out-of-state employers—on a winter’s day and otherwise—might dream of operating in California. California is an attractive market for out-of-state companies. But employers who hire employees in California or send employees to work there face a unique set of challenges. Below are some key areas of employment law these companies should
Continue Reading “California Dreamin”—Peculiar Laws To Consider When Crossing State Lines
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a simpler time, courts reviewing medical cannabis laws issued employer-friendly decisions, generally finding no duty to accommodate medical cannabis even when state laws allowed its use for medical purposes. Now, however, the tide is rapidly turning. Where does California employment law currently stand on cannabis? Below we address burning issues regarding accommodations and drug testing.
What is
Continue Reading Cannabis in California: High Time to Smoke Out the Issues
Seyfarth Synopsis: Companies marketing through social media are likely familiar with social media influencers like the Kardashian/Jenners in cosmetics, DanTDM in gaming, and Kayla Itsines in fitness. California companies using the services of such influencers must be mindful, as always, of California peculiarities when it comes to classifying these individuals as contractors or employees.
As anyone who
Continue Reading Hiring Influencers: Are You Playing With Fyre?
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employment-related cases pending before the California Supreme Court concern various questions that sometimes seem technical, but the answers they elicit will have big consequences. Questions raised by the current crop of cases include standing to sue, the availability of certain claims and remedies, federal preemption of California laws, what counts as compensable time, and—that perennial favorite—how to interpret
Continue Reading 2019 Employment Law: Cases Pending in the California Supreme Court
Seyfarth Synopsis: With apologies to Dr. Seuss, we’ve penned an ode to the judicial chaos of the year just past, highlighted by three California Supreme Court decisions—Alvarado v. Dart Container Corp., Dynamex Operations v. Superior Court, and Troester v. Starbucks Corp.—all of which deviated from federal or common law norms to create more new cal-peculiar law that is friendly
Continue Reading Oh, the Places the California Supremes Will Go!
Seyfarth Synopsis: AB 1654 provides a PAGA exemption for certain employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. While AB 1654 is limited to the construction industry, its underlying rationale applies much more broadly, and may augur further thoughtful restrictions on PAGA’s broad scope.
California’s Private Attorneys General Act, imposing draconian penalties for even relatively trivial Labor Code violations, remains the
Continue Reading Constructive Solution for PAGA? CBA Waivers for Construction Employers
Non-California employers with non-exempt workers who work in California will be interested in the following piece, originally posted on Seyfarth’s Wage Hour Litigation Blog.
Seyfarth Summary: On July 12, 2018, the California Supreme Court agreed to address questions posed by the Ninth Circuit about whether California Labor Code provisions apply to an out-of-state employer whose employees work part of
Continue Reading Fasten Your Seat Belts: California Revisiting Oracle in Airline Cases
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion in which it considered which test should be used to decide whether a worker asserting claims under a California Wage Order is an employee or an independent contractor. The following Seyfarth One Minute Memo summarizes the case and what it means for employers.
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme
Continue Reading California Supremes Prescribe “ABC” Test for Independent Contractor Status
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday morning in Dynamex Operations v. Superior Court, a case addressing the legal standard for determining whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or an employee. We expect the Supreme Court’s opinion will be significant for any entity using independent contractors in California.
The Story Thus Far
As
Continue Reading California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument to Define “Independent Contractor”