California—where the sun shines, the waves crash, and juries keep dishing out verdicts so large they should come with their own seismic scale. Since our Special Halloween Edition on California’s “scariest” employment law verdicts, the trend toward “nuclear” and even “thermonuclear” jury awards (exceeding $100 million) has not only continued—it’s accelerated. And if employers thought this was just a seasonal horror story, think again:
Ah, California: land of Hollywood, high-tech, empty ocean roads, and—all too often these days—eye-popping jury verdicts. Employment litigation in California now rivals the state lottery as a source of multimillion-dollar payouts. We’ve previously reported on some of the more astonishing numbers (see here, here, and here), but they are only the tip of the iceberg.
Recent cases have led to single-plaintiff jury
A recent California appellate decision is a stark reminder to employers of just how costly employment litigation has become in the Golden State: Bronshteyn v. California Department of Consumer Affairs.
Diana Bronshteyn, who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, sued her former employer, the California Department of Consumer Affairs (the “CDCA”), for disability discrimination and related claims under the California Fair Employment Housing Act—a statute
It’s that time of year, folks—the dog days of August, when vacations are booked, beaches are crowded, and the Department of Finance menacingly recalculates California’s minimum wage. As instructed by statute, August 1st is the date by which state officials must increase (it never goes down!) the minimum wage for the coming year.
So, without further ado: As of January 1, 2026, California’s statewide
In an unpublished but nonetheless significant opinion, the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of a consolidated lawsuit filed by SAG-AFTRA members against their union, finding the claims time-barred and preempted. In relevant part, the dispute was rooted in allegations that SAG-AFTRA, by negotiating a return-to-work agreement that allowed SAG-AFTRA’s studio and producer bargaining partners to impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates, had violated
As we’ve previously reported, the California Legislature last year passed and Governor Newsom signed into law AB 2499, which expanded existing leave requirements for California employers. Prior to passage of AB 2499, California already required employers: (1) to permit employees who are victims of certain violent crimes to obtain relief and (2) to provide such crime victim employees with reasonable accommodations for their safety
On May 19, 2025, Proskauer attorneys successfully compelled to arbitration an employment discrimination lawsuit that had been filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. While the former employee claimed that she never signed the arbitration agreement because she lacked access to her work email while on medical leave, the defendants established with emails showing that the employee actually did “access the . . . platform”
Although the threat of COVID-19 (remember that?) seems to have diminished considerably over the past five years, once upon a time in Hollywood many production companies (along with other employers) required employees to be vaccinated upon pain of losing their job.
In early 2022, Apple Studios LLC conditionally offered actor Brent Sexton the role of U.S. President Andrew Johnson in its production of Manhunt
The California Court of Appeal recently reminded employers in an unpublished (but nonetheless chastening) opinion of the importance of carefully drafting arbitration agreements. In Pich v. LaserAway, LLC et al, the court affirmed the trial court’s denial of the employer’s motion to compel a former employee’s representative wage-and-hour suit to arbitration because the arbitration agreement in question was signed only by the employee—not the employer.
Unbowed and unbroken, California continues to work toward creating that Workers’ Paradise in the Sun, and this legislative session did not disappoint! Here are the latest new laws that will take effect by the first of the year:
| Law | Summary & Impact on Employers |
| AB 1815 Weber (D-San Diego) | Expansion of the CROWN Act. The Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) already defines the |