California Employment Law Notes

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Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Lab., 554 U.S. 84, 128 S. Ct. 2395 (2008)

When the United States government ordered Knolls (one of the contractors that maintains the nation’s fleet of nuclear-powered warships) to reduce its workforce, the company conducted an involuntary reduction in force, resulting in the layoff of 31 employees, 30 of whom were age 40 or older. Twenty-eight of the laid-off…

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. v. Superior Court, 163 Cal. App. 4th 575 (2008)

The trade secret owner in this case, Silvaco Data Systems, develops and licenses electronic design automation software. In late 1998, a former Silvaco employee, working for Circuit Systems, Inc. (“CSI”), incorporated Silvaco’s “SmartSpice” trade secrets into CSI’s product, “DynaSpice.” Silvaco sued the employee as well as CSI and in 2003 entered into a…

Westrec Marina Mgmt., Inc. v. Arrowood Indemn. Co., 163 Cal. App. 4th 1387 (2008)

Westrec sued its insurance carrier, Arrowood, after the carrier refused to provide a defense to an employment discrimination lawsuit on the ground that Westrec had failed to timely report the third-party claim as required under the terms of two successive directors and officers liability insurance policies issued by Arrowood. Bette…

Caso v. Nimrod Productions, Inc., 163 Cal App. 4th 881 (2008)

Christopher Caso, a professional stuntman, suffered severe head injuries while performing a stunt during the production of a television show. Caso and his wife (who sought damages for loss of consortium) sued defendants (the director and the stunt coordinators and their respective loan-out corporations) for negligence. The trial court granted defendants’ motion for…

Aramark Facility Services v. SEIU, 530 F.3d 817 (9th Cir. 2008)

Aramark received letters from the Social Security Administration indicating that information relating to 48 of Aramark’s employees at Staples Center did not match the SSA’s database. Suspecting immigration violations, Aramark told the employees they had three days to correct the mismatches by proving they had begun the process of applying for a new…

Arteaga v. Brink’s, Inc., 163 Cal. App. 4th 327 (2008)

Brink’s employee Carlos Arteaga was the subject of an internal investigation into various shortages totaling $7,668 that occurred while he was acting in his capacity as an ATM messenger. The investigation was conducted after one of Arteaga’s managers noticed there had been 16 shortages in five months on runs in which Arteaga had been…

In re BCBG Overtime Cases, 163 Cal. App. 4th 1293 (2008)

BCBG Maxazria filed a motion to strike class allegations from the complaint Christina Denkinger filed in which she and other putative class representatives alleged that BCBG misclassified its managers and assistant managers as exempt from overtime because they spend more than 50 percent of their time performing duties delegated to non-exempt employees. In…

City of Oakland v. Hassey, 163 Cal. App. 4th 1477 (2008)

The city sued Kenny D. Hassey for breach of contract after he failed to reimburse it for the costs of training him to become a police officer with the Oakland Police Department. Oakland had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Oakland Police Officers’ Association authorizing the city to require employees who…

Advanced-Tech Sec. Services, Inc. v. Superior Court, 163 Cal. App. 4th 700 (2008)

Ester Roman, who was employed as a security guard for Advanced-Tech, worked 12 hours on Labor Day 2006 and eight hours on Memorial Day 2007. Advanced-Tech’s employee handbook stated that employees who worked on designated holidays, including Labor Day and Memorial Day, would be paid 1.5 times their regular rate of…

Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., 529 F.3d 892 (9th Cir. 2008)

Arch Wireless contracted to provide wireless text-messaging services for the City of Ontario, including its police department. Pursuant to the city’s general Computer Usage, Internet and E-mail Policy, the use of the city’s computers and other electronic equipment, networks, etc., was limited to city-related business, access was not confidential and “users should…