Wage and Hour

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Employers doing business in California have seen a barrage of class actions and representative claims for various alleged wage and hour Labor Code violations. Some cases are premised solely on “technical” wage statement violations, where the employer may not have even realized the practice was occurring or was unlawful.
Continue Reading Why You Should Take a Closer Look at California’s New Piece-Rate Legislation

In Sharif v. Mehusa, Inc., (Cal. App. 2d Dist. Oct. 14, 2015) 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 897, plaintiff brought three claims for unpaid overtime, unpaid wages, and violation of California’s Equal Pay Act against her former employer. At trial, plaintiff only succeeded on her Equal Pay Act claim and was awarded $26,300. As the prevailing party under the Equal Pay Act claim, plaintiff filed a motion for attorney’s fees seeking $280,432, based on a $140,216 loadstar with a multiplier of two.
Continue Reading Plaintiff and Defendant Are “Prevailing Parties” in Same Action

California’s new Fair Pay Act (“Act”) was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on October 6, 2015.  Many believe the Act is the most aggressive equal pay law in the United States.  The Act becomes effective January 1, 2016.

Prior to Act, California Labor Code section 1197.5 prohibited discrimination in pay based on gender since 1949.  The old law required equal pay for “equal work,” except under four situations: a seniority system; a merit system; a system measuring earnings by quantity or quality of production; or a “bona fide” factor other than gender. 
Continue Reading California Employers Face Stringent New Equal Pay Requirements

On October 5, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill confirming that employees in the health care industry can waive one of their two meal periods when working a shift of over eight hours in a workday. This law clarifies confusion caused by a recently decided appellate case, Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, 234 Cal.App.4th 285 (C.A. 4th, 2015) (review granted). The Gerard case is currently under review by the California Supreme Court.
Continue Reading Health Care Workers Allowed to Waive Meal Period

On October 6, 2015 Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 358 (“SB 358”), a law that substantially eases California employees’ burden in proving gender-based pay claims. This law also increases the number of years that employers must retain employee records, and creates additional protections for employees who wish to discuss or disclose their wages.
Continue Reading New California Law Eases Employees’ Burdens in Proving Gender-Based Pay Claims and Creates Additional Protections for Employees to Discuss Their Wages

Four drivers who transported cargo from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles were misclassified as independent contractors and subjected to illegal paycheck deductions, a California Court of Appeal has held.  Garcia et al. v. Seacon Logix, Inc., No. B248227 (July 16, 2015) (unpublished).  This case reiterates a simple, yet important principle of employment law: notwithstanding the express language in an “Independent Contractor Agreement,” workers are employees—and not independent contractors—if the business controls the manner and means of their work. 
Continue Reading California Court of Appeal Affirms Expense Reimbursement Award to Misclassified Employees

Jackson Lewis Shareholder Punam Sarad will serve as a panelist at the Bay Area Employer 411: What You Need to Know About the New Laws on Equal Pay, Fair Scheduling and Slavery-Free Supply Chains Conference hosted by the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, Department of Labor/Women’s Bureau, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and American Association of University Women/San Francisco Branch. The panel will be followed by a roundtable discussion about the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance and Retail Workers Bill of Rights.
Continue Reading Bay Area Employer 411: What You Need to Know About the New Laws on Equal Pay, Fair Scheduling and Slavery-Free Supply Chains

The proposed amendments to the San Francisco Formula Retail Worker Bill of Rights, listed below, have passed. In addition, the OLSE has issued FAQs (click here to download) and a template notice of rights (click here to download) which must be posted by covered employers. Per the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE), both of these linked documents will be modified to reflect the changes to the law.
Continue Reading San Francisco Formula Retail Worker Bill of Rights: Update as of July 9, 2015

Originally posted by Human Resource Executive, the premier publication focused on strategic issues in HR. To view the original post, please click here.

A new set of ordinances that restrict San Francisco retailers in how they manage the scheduling and staffing of their establishments is about to go into effect—and experts say retailers in other parts of the United States had better be paying attention.
Continue Reading Spreading Eastward? A controversial new measure in San Francisco will impose new regulatory burdens on retailers there. But its supporters say it—and similar measures being debated elsewhere—are good for employees and for business.