California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a number of bills addressing a wide array of issues that could significantly impact employers in the coming year. Read on for an overview of some of these new laws and their key provisions.
Proskauer Rose
Supreme Court Sets Oral Arguments in Brinker
The California Supreme Court announced today that it will hear oral arguments in the landmark wage-and-hour case Brinker Restaurant v. Superior Court on November 8 in San Francisco. In Brinker, the Court will decide whether employers must merely provide meal and rest breaks to their employees or actually ensure that breaks are taken, as well as the related issue of whether such claims are…
Ninth Circuit Reexamines Class Certification Standards After Dukes v. Walmart
In Ellis v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 19060 (9th Cir. Sept. 16, 2011), the Ninth Circuit reviewed the standards for class certification in an employment class action following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dukes v. Walmart. In Ellis,three named plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, compensatory damages, and backpay on behalf of a nationwide class of female employees who the plaintiffs claimed had been denied promotion because of their gender. The district court granted class certification. In reviewing the certification order, the court provided guidance for class action litigation in the Ninth Circuit following Walmart.
New California Law Prohibits Discrimination Based on Genetic Information
The number of protected classes under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), Cal. Gov’t Code § 12900 et seq., has risen by one. The FEHA, together with the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51, currently prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, and services provided by business establishments on the basis of various personal characteristics such as sex, race, color, national …
Proskauer Wins Summary Judgment on Behalf of Paramount in Breach of Contract, Discrimination Case
The plaintiff was an Australian citizen working as an associate attorney for the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP on a work visa. In October 2009, Paramount extended to her a conditional offer of employment to serve as its Vice President, IT Legal, the offer being contingent upon the completion of a background investigation to Paramount’s satisfaction and the successful transfer of her work visa. The conditional offer indicated that a separate employment agreement would follow. When the plaintiff countersigned the conditional offer letter in late October, she told Paramount, for the first time, that she would not be able to start work until January 2010 because of a previously undisclosed secondment to a client of O’Melveny and because she needed to travel to Australia during the first week of January.
Supreme Court Tightens Class Action Rules, Rejecting Class Composed of 1.5 Million Wal-Mart Employees
In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, No. 10-277 (U.S. June 20, 2011), the Supreme Court vacated class certification of a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by 1.5 million current and former Wal-Mart employees because the plaintiffs failed to identify a specific, company-wide policy or practice of discrimination. Additionally, the Court held unanimously that the employees’ backpay claims could not be certified as a class action because Wal-Mart was entitled to individual proceedings so that it could present defenses as to each claim.
Ninth Circuit Rules Unlicensed “Junior Accountants” May Be Exempt From Overtime
Campbell v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 2011 WL 2342740 (9th Cir. June 15, 2011) (pdf)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff-junior accountants, noting that the district court’s holding would produce “significantly troubling results” and create “highly problematic precedent affecting several non-accounting professions.” The plaintiffs, a class of approximately 2,000 current or former junior accountants resident in six California offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”), claimed that PwC improperly classified them as “exempt” employees and failed to provide them overtime pay in accordance with California’s rigid overtime pay requirements. As “junior accountants,” the plaintiffs occupied the bottom two tiers of their department’s seven-tier hierarchy and performed, among other accounting functions, audits of financial records. While Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”) licenses were required for the five levels above them, the plaintiffs were unlicensed.
New Government-Created SmartPhone “App” Now Available For Use As “iEvidence” To Assist Employees In Wage Disputes
As the federal government wades deeper into the realm of mobile "apps" (among the most useful, of course, the Smithsonian Institution’s “MEanderthal” app, which enables users to morph personal photos into prehistoric images of themselves), various U.S. agencies are promoting new apps that allow the public to access official information from “the palm of [one’s] hand.”
Not to be left behind, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently rolled out a smartphone app to help employees independently track the hours they work. The “DOL-Timesheet,” as the app has been dubbed, is currently available in English and Spanish for use on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The app is designed to assist employees in recording their hours worked and calculating the wages – including overtime – that they’re owed. (Overtime pay is computed at a rate of one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate for all hours worked each week in excess of 40 – though California also has a daily overtime requirement for hours worked in excess of eight.) Users are currently able to view and email summaries of their logged hours and gross pay, and additional features have been promised, including the ability to track tips, commissions, bonuses, deductions, holiday and weekend pay, shift differentials, and paid time off.
The State Bar Labor and Employment Law Section Presents 2011 Employment Law Update: A Mid-Year Review of Recent Developments
On Wednesday, June 22, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., Anthony Oncidi of Proskauer and plaintiff-side attorney, Andrew Friedman of Helmer Friedman LLP, will summarize the latest developments and discuss the practical implications of this year’s most significant employment decisions. Among other developments, attendees will hear about the new U.S. Supreme Court rulings regarding the “cat’s paw” liability theory (Staub v. Proctor Hosp., 131…
May 2011 California Employment Law Notes
We invite you to review our newly posted May 2011 California Employment Law Notes — a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
- State Limitations On Arbitration Agreements Are Preempted By Federal Law
- State Farm Had No Duty To Defend Employer Against Employee’s Sexual Battery Claim
- Class Certification Was Properly Denied To Retail Store Managers
- Employees
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