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24-Hour Residential Care Facility Not Required to Permit Employees to Decline On-Duty Meal Periods
Plaintiff Yvonne Palacio (“Palacio”) sued her former employer, Jan & Gail’s Care Homes, Inc., alleging that Care Homes violated wage and hour laws by not informing its employees that they had a right to revoke their on-duty meal period agreements. Palacio sought class certification to include 102 current and former employees in the lawsuit. The…
Read MoreMedical Board Issues Updated Public Disciplinary Information Law
On July 1, a new California law changed the Medical Board of California’s guidelines for posting physicians and surgeons’ disciplinary information to the public. Last August, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1886, which requires the Board to post the most serious disciplinary information, including enforcement actions, disciplinary actions, civil judgments, arbitration awards, and certain…
Read MoreDepartment of Labor: Most Workers Qualify as Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
On July 15, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance aimed at curbing the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, saying that most workers qualify as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and stressing the statute’s expansive definition of employment. In the DOL’s first “administrator’s interpretation” of 2015, Wage and Hour…
Read MoreJury Finds HR Manager Wrongfully Fired in $538K Pregnancy Discrimination Verdict
On June 18, an Orange County jury ruled against internet marketing company eGumball for unlawfully firing and discriminating against their own HR Manager upon her return from maternity leave. The company will pay the plaintiff, Kimberly Perry, more than $538,000 in damages. In February 2013, Perry told her boss, John Bauer, that she was pregnant. …
Read MoreFederal Courts Will Not Uphold Jury-Trial Waivers in Contracts Signed Under California Law
In April, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that federal courts sitting in diversity will not uphold jury-trial waivers in contracts signed under California law, even where each party waived its rights “knowingly and voluntarily.” The court held that federal courts sitting in diversity must apply the underlying state law to…
Read MoreREMINDER: California Employers Are Required to Provide Paid Sick Leave Beginning July 1
Beginning July 1, state law will require all California employers to annually provide at least 3 days of paid sick leave to their employees. The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (AB 1522) applies to all California employees (including part-time) who work at least 30 days a year, regardless of the employer’s size. In…
Read MoreBlue Shield Loses Tax-Exempt Status, Comes Under Scrutiny for Care1st Acquisition
Non-profit health insurer Blue Shield of California has come under public scrutiny for its huge cash reserves, history of large rate increases, and lack of disclosure to the taxpayers. The California Franchise Tax Board punished Blue Shield by stripping the insurer of its tax-exempt status at the end of 2014. Today, Blue Shield remains controversial. …
Read MoreAirline Servicer Crashes in Overtime Case: Employers Cannot Define Workday to Avoid Payment of Overtime
Generally, employers in California are free to define their workdays and workweeks as they see fit, with at least one major caveat: they may not structure the workday or workweek in a way that systematically prevents employees from earning overtime pay. A recent case, Jakosalem v. Air Serv Corp., highlights the risks inherent in this…
Read MoreState Governing Boards Face Antitrust Risk after Supreme Court Ruling in North Carolina Dentists Case
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) when it ruled North Carolina’s custom of practicing dentists serving on the state regulatory board was anticompetitive. The decision in North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission could subject thousands of similarly structured boards to antitrust liability, and brings into…
Read MoreCarlson & Jayakumar Attorneys Shut Down Manufacturing Employees’ Rest Break Lawsuit and Achieve Important Victory for Employers: Court Affirms Legality of Combined Rest Periods
Newport Beach, CA — March 26, 2015. On February 23, 2015, a Los Angeles Superior Court granted a motion for summary judgment filed by aerospace metal finishing company, EME, Inc., against a class of hourly workers who claimed, among other things, that EME’s practice of combining rest breaks was per se illegal. The court entered…
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