California Employment Law Update : Labor and Employment Lawyers & Attorneys : Proskauer Rose Law Firm : Wage & Hour Laws, Disability, Workplace Safety

While California employers continue to await a definitive ruling from the California Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal this week issued a ruling determining that employers need only provide employees with meal and rest breaks and need not necessarily ensure that employees take them.

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On October 22, 2010, the California Court of Appeal in Villacres v. Abm Industries Inc., No. B219584, __ Cal. App. 4th __ (2010) rejected an attempt by a settling class member to use the California Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) to bring successive claims for civil penalties against his former employer, from whom he had previously accepted the proceeds from a class action settlement involving similar claims.  In so doing, the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's granting of summary judgment for the employer on the ground that the plaintiff's claims were barred under the doctrine of res judicata.  This outcome is a clear victory for employers who purchase costly peace through court-approved class action settlements, and a welcome clarification that PAGA cannot be used to peck an employer to death once such settlements are final.

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California has enacted the "California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010" (S.B. 657), which will require retail sellers and manufacturers that do business in California and that have over $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts to publicly disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains for tangible goods offered for sale. The new law becomes effective on January 1, 2012.

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California has fallen to No. 39 in Forbes' rankings of The Best States for Business in 2010, down one position from its ranking in 2009.

According to Forbes, the rankings are based on valuations of business costs, labor supply, the regulatory environment and other economic factors.  Among these specific measures, California ranked 44th in business costs, which includes the costs of labor, energy and taxes, and 43rd in regulatory environment, which measures the state's regulatory and tort climate.  

The most business-friendly states in 2010 were Utah (No. 1), Virginia (No. 2) and North Carolina (No. 3).  Click over to Forbes.com for the complete list.

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