Seyfarth Synopsis: California’s hotly contested and closely followed AB 5 independent contractor bill, which would extend the ABC test beyond Wage Order claims, just passed the California Senate, and now heads back to the State Assembly for reconciliation before going to Governor Newsom’s desk for his expected signature.
Tell Me What You Think About Me: The Destiny of AB 5
Continue Reading Who Are Independent (Contractors)? Throw Your Hands Up At Me!
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: 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”
Seyfarth Synopsis: In what many employers will see as a “break” from workplace reality, the Supreme Court, in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., announced that certain “on call” rest periods do not comply with the California Labor Code and Wage Orders. The decision presents significant practical challenges for employers in industries where employees must respond to exigent
Continue Reading No Break for California Employers This Holiday Season
Seyfarth Synopsis: Travel time pay is a nebulous area of the law that can leave many employers stalled on the starting blocks. Here are some guidelines to help ensure that employees get paid for all hours worked, including any compensable travel time.
Ready. Set. Not so fast.
It makes common sense to most people that commute time—the time an employee
Continue Reading The Fast, the Furious, the Fundamentals: Travel Pay in California
(with apologies to the song artist)
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Ninth Circuit has suggested it might upset longstanding “on call” practices by making California employers liable for “reporting time” pay to employees who phone in ahead of their schedule, only to find that they are not needed for the day.
On October 5, 2016, a Ninth Circuit panel indicated
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Poised to Say “Call Me, Maybe”
Seyfarth Synopsis: California’s rules on rest breaks are still developing. Recent cases have addressed the timing of rest breaks, and whether employees (particularly those who remain “on call”) must be relieved of all duty during breaks.
Our fair state has long imposed peculiar—and specific—requirements for employee work breaks. Varying interpretations of the rules for meal and rest breaks have spawned
Continue Reading No Rest for the Weary: California Law on Rest Breaks
With March Madness in full swing, we interrupt your crumbling tournament brackets to ensure you’re aware of a truly maddening development. California law now makes individuals potentially liable for employer violations of many often-convoluted wage and hour rules.
That’s right—individuals, not just companies, may be liable for wage and hour violations.
We mentioned this legislation here last Fall,
Continue Reading Who me? Yes, YOU: Personal Liability For Wage Hour Violations
The countdown begins to receiving some clarity on the suitable seating rule from the California Supreme Court. On January 5, 2016, the Court heard oral argument in the consolidated matters of Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. and Henderson v. JP Morgan Chase Bank. These putative class actions claim that the employers violated Section 14 of Wage Orders 4-2001 and
Continue Reading Edge of Our Seats: Oral Argument on “Suitable Seats” Cases
By: Emily Schroeder
In a recent blog post, we discussed how recent California judicial court decisions may erode the once-solid foundation of traditional incentive pay systems. Specifically, Armenta v. Osmose and Bluford v. Safeway held that while a piece rate compensated employees for their “productive time”—time spent actually working on piece-rate tasks—the piece rate did not compensate them for
Continue Reading Commission Pay Post-Peabody