Summary judgment was improperly granted on plaintiff’s FEHA pregnancy discrimination claim; she did not need to show she had submitted a job application; it was enough to show that the employer’s discriminatory conduct deterred her from applying. Read More
To collect damages from an employer for failure to provide proper wage statements, an employee must show actual injury, which is not possible if omitted information is easily calculated from information the wage statement properly discloses; but no actual injury need be shown for the employee to recover civil penalties from the employer in a Private Attorney General Act suit… Read More
A statement by the UFW that "we're through with you" was not a clear and unequivocal disclaimer of the union's interest in representing the bargaining unit. Read More
A two-thirds majority of workers may approve an alternative workweek schedule (AWS) of fewer days but longer hours without overtime pay, but in a subsequent court challenge, the burden is on the employer to show that proper procedures (such as a secret ballot) were followed when the AWS was approved. Read More
A government employee must exhaust administrative remedies before suing in court for whistleblower retaliation, but the employee need not seek judicial review of the administrative decision which is not binding in the court suit. Read More
A worker is treated as an independent contractor only if he or she meets a three-prong test involving control and direction of the hirer, the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the worker's customary occupation. Read More
The 90-day statute of limitations for Title VII claims begins to run from the date plaintiff receives his or her right-to-sue letter from the EEOC. Read More
An employee of a gas station operated by an independent franchisee could not bring wage and hour action against the franchisor because the franchisor was not his employer under the relevant statutory test. Read More
A trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing wage & hour putative class action for failure to bring to trial within five years since pending arbitration did not prevent plaintiff from moving forward with the non-arbitrable pieces of litigation. Read More
Automotive service advisors (i.e. those who sell automobile servicing) are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime payment requirements. Read More
An employer may not defend an Equal Pay Act claim by showing that pay disparities are based on differences in the workers’ wages at prior jobs. Read More
A narrower state law does not preempt San Francisco’s ordinance more broadly prohibiting landlords from discriminating against prospective tenants based on their receiving government assistance to pay rent. Read More
A county counsel is employed pursuant to statute, not contract, so he could not sue the county for a supposed breach of his employment contract. Read More
Plaintiff, a temp hired by defendant staff agency to work for another company, was considered to have joint employers, both of whom owed a duty to allow her meal breaks; however, each employer was liable only for its own actions that violate that legal requirement. Read More
In computing overtime pay at 150% of regular pay, the hourly equivalent of a flat sum bonus is calculated by dividing the bonus should by the number of non-overtime hours the employee worked during the pay period. Read More
Agency records containing personal information are protected under the Information Privacy Act even if not maintained in the agency’s centralized personnel records. Read More
To be protected as a whistleblower under the Dodd-Frank Act, an employee must report the information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read More
A government employee must pursue the employer’s administrative remedies before filing a civil action; Labor Code section 244 only allows the employee to forego remedies before the Labor Commissioner. Read More
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”) does not preempt California law to the extent it allows a district attorney to bring an Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) action based on the defendant's unlawful practice of failing to meet CalOSHA workplace safety standards even though the state plan did not provide for enforcement by that means. Read More
California minimum wage and overtime pay laws are not inconsistent with the Fair Labor Standards Act and so apply to workers on oil rigs on the outer continental shelf off the California coast. Read More
