California Employment Law Notes

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Chavez v. City of Los Angeles, 47 Cal. 4th 970 (2010)

Over the course of six years, Robert Chavez, a Los Angeles Police Department officer, and his wife filed multiple lawsuits against the LAPD and other members of the LAPD, alleging a variety of claims involving discrimination, harassment and retaliation. In this particular lawsuit, Chavez alleged the city and three of his supervisors had…

Narouz v. Charter Communications, LLC, 591 F.3d 1261 (9th Cir. 2010)

Hani Narouz filed a complaint against Charter Communications in which he alleged causes of action for wrongful termination in violation of public policy, as well as statutory violations of the California Labor Code for failure to pay wages, provide meal periods, maintain accurate itemized wage statements, and unfair competition under Business & Professions…

D’Este v. Bayer Corp., 565 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2009)

The Ninth Circuit has certified two questions of law to be answered by the California Supreme Court pursuant to Cal. Rule of Court 8.548: (1) Does a pharmaceutical sales representative (“PSR”) qualify as an “outside salesperson” under Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders 1-2001 and 4-2001 if the PSR spends more than half the working…

FLIR Sys., Inc. v. Parrish, 174 Cal. App. 4th 1270 (2009)

FLIR Systems purchased Indigo Systems, which manufactures and sells microbolometers (a device used in connection with infrared cameras, night vision and thermal imaging), for $185 million in 2004. William Parrish and Timothy Fitzgibbons were shareholders and officers of Indigo before the company was sold to FLIR; after the sale, they continued working for…

Haro v. City of Rosemead, 174 Cal. App. 4th 1067 (2009)

Randy Haro and Robert Ballin filed an action against the city of Rosemead alleging a violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The trial court denied plaintiffs’ motion to have the class certified pursuant to Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 382 (the California class action statute) on the ground that an…

Martorana v. Marlin & Saltzman, 2009 WL 1875681 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009)

Ron Martorana was a class member in a wage and hour class action that had been filed against his former employer, Allstate Insurance Company. The Los Angeles Superior Court approved a settlement of the class action, but Martorana did not recover any portion of the settlement because he had failed to timely…

Arias v. Superior Court, 2009 WL 1838973 (Cal. S. Ct. 2009)

Jose Arias sued his former employer, Angelo Dairy, for a number of alleged violations of the California Labor Code, including five claims that he asserted on behalf of himself as well as other current and former employees under the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”). The trial court granted the employer’s motion to strike all…

Oravecz v. New York Life Ins. Co., 95 Cal. Rptr. 3d 1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009)

Paul Oravecz sued Steve Roth and New York Life (which was allegedly Roth’s employer) after losing money in an investment in an offshore foreign currency trading fund, which Oravecz alleged was a “Ponzi scheme.” Among the claims Oravecz alleged against New York Life were negligent misrepresentation, failure to…