California Employment Law Notes

Subscribe to California Employment Law Notes via RSS

Reyes v. Van Elk, Ltd., 148 Cal. App. 4th 604 (2007)

Plaintiffs were employed by Van Elk on allegedly public works projects that were subject to California’s prevailing wage law. Van Elk filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiffs did not have standing to sue because they were undocumented workers. Plaintiffs’ discovery responses affirmed that they were not born in…

Berg v. Traylor, 148 Cal. App. 4th 809 (2007)

Meshiel Cooper Traylor and her minor son Craig Lamar Traylor appealed the judgment confirming an arbitration award in favor of Craig’s former personal manager, Sharyn Berg, for unpaid commissions under an “Artist’s Manager’s Agreement” among Berg, Meshiel and Craig. Meshiel and Berg signed the agreement; Craig, who was 10 years old at the time, did…

Andersen v. WCAB, 2007 WL 1153010 (Cal. Ct. App. 2007)

John Andersen, an employee of the City of Santa Barbara, sustained industrial injuries as a result of which he filed a workers’ compensation claim. When the City required Andersen to use his accrued vacation benefits rather than sick leave to obtain medical care for these injuries, he alleged discrimination in violation of Labor Code…

CRST Van Expedited v. Werner Enterprises, 479 F.3d 1099 (9th Cir. 2007)

CRST sued Werner Enterprises, claiming Werner had interfered with the employment contracts CRST had with two of its truck drivers whom CRST had trained at its expense. The Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of CRST’s contractual interference claim on the ground that CRST had properly alleged the necessary elements of such a…

Malais v. Los Angeles City Fire Dep’t, 2007 WL 1229335 (Cal. Ct. App. 2007)

Gregory Malais, a Captain II with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, sued the Department for disability discrimination in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act when he was given a special-duty assignment following the partial amputation of one of his legs. Captains on special-duty assignment receive the same pay…

Myers v. Trendwest Resorts, Inc., 56 Cal. Rptr. 3d 501 (Ct. App. 2007)

Alissa Myers, a salesperson, alleged that her supervisor, Ayman Damlahki, had sexually harassed her with numerous unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances, comments, innuendoes of a sexual nature, and numerous non-consensual physical contacts with her body, all of which created an intimidating, oppressive, hostile and offensive work environment. The trial court granted…

Walsh v. IKON Office Solutions, Inc., 56 Cal. Rptr. 3d 534 (Ct. App. 2007)

The trial court in this case initially granted the plaintiffs’ motion to certify a subclass of account managers who had been treated as exempt employees under the outside salesperson exemption. However, almost a year later, a different judge granted IKON’s motion to decertify the subclass on the ground that “common…

Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., 2007 WL 1111233 (Cal. S. Ct. 2007)

Former store manager John Paul Murphy sued Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (KCP), a small, upscale retail clothing store, for violations of the wage and hour law, asserting that he was improperly classified as an exempt employee. After resigning his employment, Murphy filed a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. The Labor Commissioner awarded…

Carter v. Escondido Union High School, 148 Cal. App. 4th 922 (2007)

James T. Carter sued the Escondido Union High School District for wrongful termination in violation of public policy after the district declined to “reelect” Carter to his probationary teaching position because he informed the school’s athletic director that the football coach had recommended a nutritional supplement to a student. A jury awarded…

Patricia Adkins Ins. Agency, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 146 Cal. App. 4th 526 (2007)

The Court of Appeal granted declaratory and injunctive relief to independent contractor agents of State Farm who challenged certain trade secret and non-solicitation restrictions that State Farm sought to impose upon the agents’ employees. The agents challenged the restrictions on the ground that they constituted a…