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Supreme Court Rules California Employee Is Bound By Arbitration Agreement She Signed and Thus, Lacks Standing to Bring Non-individual PAGA Claims Against Her Employer
June 17, 2022 • Shirley A. Gauvin
Category: Legal Updates
On May 15, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the much-anticipated and employer-favorable ruling in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana, holding, in an 8-1 decision, that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The Court’s decision means employees who signed arbitration agreements may not avoid arbitration of their individual PAGA claims. Further, once an employee’s PAGA claim is in arbitration, they have no standing to bring PAGA claims on behalf of other employees in court.
New York will likely become the latest state to enact a “pay transparency” law, which, if passed as written, would require New York employers with four or more employees to include wage scales or salary ranges on any job postings for positions within the state. The bill, Senate Bill S9427, passed the New York State Legislature on June 3, 2022, and now awaits the approval of Governor Kathy Hochul. Senate Bill S9427 follows the passage of a similar New York City law that is set to take effect on November 1, 2022.
San Francisco’s Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance
June 13, 2022 • Jordan A. Fishman
Category: Legal Updates
Beginning on July 12, any employer with 20 or more employees who has workers either working in or teleworking out of San Francisco will need to comply with the amended version of the Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance (“FFWO”), which may be found here.
California Supreme Court Holds Premium Pay for Missed Breaks Constitutes “Wages” That Must Be Reported on Wage Statements and Paid Within Statutory Deadlines Upon Termination.
May 25, 2022 • Diana Lerma, Shirley A. Gauvin
Category: Legal Updates
On May 23, 2022, in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., the California Supreme Court clarified that a violation of Labor Code section 226.7 (payment of premium wages for meal and rest period violations) gives rise to claims under Labor Code sections 203 (waiting time penalties) and 226 (inaccurate wage statements).
New Los Angeles Hotel Workers Ordinance Goes to City Council for Outright Adoption or Voter Approval
May 19, 2022 • Christina Tantoy
Category: Legal Updates
The “Hotel Workers Initiative Ordinance” – a proposed hotel workers’ protections ordinance backed by UNITE HERE Local 11 – would require hotels in the City of Los Angeles to give additional protections and benefits to hotel workers. Earlier this month, dozens of hotel workers delivered the requisite petition of signatures to the Los Angeles City Clerk to qualify the Ordinance for presentation to the City Council. Now the City Council will decide whether to put the Ordinance on the voter ballot in November or outright adopt the law.
For the third time, California has re-adopted and revised its COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”), mirroring current State and local regulations easing pandemic-related restrictions. While the ETS still require employers to establish and train employees on written prevention programs, Cal-OSHA has now removed several protocols including indoor masking, cleaning and disinfection, and vaccination status distinctions.
Historically, employers have used noncompete agreements to prevent competition or dissemination of confidential information when an employee leaves a company. However, the last few years has seen the erosion of their enforceability across the country. Frequent readers of our legal updates will recall that on July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission “to curtail the unfair use of noncompete clauses and other clauses or agreements that may unfairly limit worker mobility.” (See our legal update here.) State legislators and courts have begun restricting the noncompete before the federal government has had time to act.
California law currently defines the “workweek,” by operation of its overtime rules, as 40 hours per week. Assembly Bill (“AB”) 2932 as proposed to the California Legislature, would cut the standard “workweek” to 32 hours per week for non-exempt employees of employers with more than 500 employees. As written, the bill provides for overtime pay for work performed beyond 32 hours in a week.
A Suspended Employee is Still an Employee Under the ADA
April 12, 2022 • Anne-Marie Mizel
Category: Legal Updates
Picture the following scenario: An employee engages in misconduct at work that results in suspension pending investigation and would normally probably end in termination. But at the time of the suspension, the employee requests and is granted a medical leave. The termination is not finalized while the employee is on leave, and while on leave, the employee claims that the misconduct was caused by a mental illness and requests reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act – in short, they ask for a second chance.
Changes to Diversity Training for Florida Employers
April 8, 2022 • Jordan A. Fishman
Category: Legal Updates
In March, Florida’s legislature approved the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act.” The bill restricts how workplaces and classrooms around the state handle discussions surrounding race, gender and discrimination. The law, expected to take effect on July 1, 2022, will also prevent companies with 15 or more employees from subjecting “any individual, as a condition of employment … to training, instruction or any other required activity that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates or compels such individual to believe” certain concepts related to diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”).