We invite you to review our newly-posted September 2021 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:

Skidgel v. CUIAB, 2021 WL 3671434 (Cal. S. Ct. 2021)

Tamara Skidgel was an in-home supportive services (IHSS) provider who was being paid under the state’s IHSS program to care for her own daughter.  In this lawsuit, Skidgel alleged that she had been an IHSS provider for her daughter since May 2013 and expected to be eligible for unemployment benefits when her employment caring

These days, more employers than ever are purchasing Employment Practices Liability Insurance (“EPLI”) to cover them in the event they get sued for employment-related claims. (See our earlier posting on that topic: “A Handy Guide for Choosing and Using Employment Practices Liability Insurance Coverage.”)

As we pointed out in that article, there are definitely some “cons” that go along with the perceived

Thompson Reuters has just published our “handy guide” for choosing and using employment practices liability insurance (“EPLI”).  The article is attached.  There are a number of important things to keep in mind when considering your options and using these insurance policies if and when an employment claim is made or threatened.  Please let one of our employment or insurance lawyers know if we can be

Mayes v. WinCo Holdings, Inc., 846 F.3d 1274 (9th Cir. 2017)

Katie Mayes worked at WinCo for 12 years in Idaho Falls, Idaho. During her last years at WinCo, she supervised employees on the night-shift freight crew. Mayes was fired for taking a stale cake from the store bakery to the break room to share with fellow employees and telling a loss prevention investigator that

Taylor v. Dep’t of Industrial Relations, 4 Cal. App. 5th 801 (2016)

Following an inspection, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (“DLSE”) discovered that Aaron’s Automotive (“Taylor”) had been in operation since 2007 but had never acquired workers’ compensation insurance coverage as required by Labor Code § 3700. The DLSE issued a Penalty Assessment Order, assessing a penalty against Taylor in the amount of

Hartford Cas. Ins. Co. v. J.R. Marketing, L.L.C., 190 Cal. Rptr. 3d 599 (Cal. S. Ct. 2015)

Hartford Casualty issued commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies to its insureds Noble Locks and J.R. Marketing. After the insureds were sued by a third party, Hartford issued reservation of rights letters based upon possible noncoverage under the policies but agreed to pay the reasonable costs of retaining

Jon Davler, Inc. v. Arch Ins. Co., 229 Cal. App. 4th 1025 (2014)

After one of the owners of Jon Davler, Inc. (Christina Yang) found a used sanitary napkin in the women’s bathroom and blood around the toilet seat, she started yelling at the employees that they were “dirty” and demanded to know which of them was on her menstrual period. When the employees

Irving v. CUIAB, 229 Cal. App. 4th 946 (2014)

Jim L. Irving who worked as a probationary heavy truck driver for the Los Angeles Unified School District was terminated for, among other things, taking excessively long breaks and falsifying his time records. The Court of Appeal determined that Irving had committed misconduct and was thus ineligible for unemployment benefits when he took excessive breaks

People ex rel. Strathmann v. Acacia Research Corp., 2012 WL 5233520 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012)

Michael Strathmann filed a qui tam complaint against his former employer Acacia in which he alleged insurance fraud. In response, Acacia filed a special motion to strike the complaint pursuant to the anti-SLAPP statute (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 425.16), which the trial court granted. The Court of Appeal