On January 26, 2021, a computer programmer and coder named Leah Snyder filed a lawsuit against her former employer (Snyder v. Alight Solutions LLC (8:21-cv-00187)), alleging she was wrongfully terminated after she posted photos of herself at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. In her complaint Snyder alleges that her former employer, an Illinois-based based human resources provider, violated California civil rights law by
California Updates Its Pay Data Reporting Requirements – Reports are due by March 31, 2021!
UPDATED February 18, 2021: The portal is now open and can be accessed on DFEH’s pay data reporting homepage along with the guide, template, and example.
UPDATED February 3, 2021: The DFEH has released a User Guide, reporting Template, and reporting Example. The portal will be available on February 16, 2021.
SB 973, enacted on September 30, 2020, requires
The ABCs of Independent Contractor Classification: California Supreme Court Holds Strict Independent Contractor Test Applies Retroactively
On January 14, 2021, the California Supreme Court decided, at the request of the Ninth Circuit, that its decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018) applies retroactively. Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc. (SC S258191 1/14/21). Dynamex adopted the “ABC test” for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor for purposes of the obligations
California Named a Top “Judicial Hellhole” … Again
Consistent with our reporting from the past few years, California is once again listed among the American Tort Reform Foundation’s (ATRF) “Top Judicial Hellholes” in the United States. This year, California finished with a Bronze Medal as just the third most hellish (behind Pennsylvania and New York City), improving on its first place finish in 2019.
The ATRF notes that excessive tort
September 2020 California Employment Law Notes
We invite you to review our newly-posted September 2020 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
- Employee Entitled To $17.2 Million For Wrongful Termination/Defamation
- “Continuing Violation” Theory Saves Employee’s Sexual Harassment Claim
- Tortious Interference With At-Will Contract Requires Independently Wrongful Act
- Time Spent By Employees In Exit Searches Is Compensable
CUIAB Should Have Considered Additional Evidence In Support Of Unemployment Claim
Land v. CUIAB, 2020 WL 5200858 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020)
Justin Land’s employer terminated his employment as a field service specialist based upon his “violation of company policy,” involving his failure to finish a job or return the next day to finish it because he “just forgot”; Land also gave out his personal phone number to another customer before returning to that customer’s home while
Bloomberg Law Podcast: What a Biden Administration Could Mean for Employers and Employees
Tony Oncidi is featured on a Bloomberg Law podcast, discussing what a Biden Administration could mean for employers and employees (starting at 14:40).
California Amends Independent Contractor Law (Again) – New Exemptions for Music Industry Workers, Freelance Writers and Photographers
Last Friday, September 4, Governor Newsom signed AB 2257, which includes a slew of modifications to the now-infamous AB5, which went into effect this year and codified the strict ABC independent contractor test, which we have addressed previously in this blog.
With this new amendment, there are now more than 100 exemptions and limitations to the original law, which was aimed at reclassifying
“Oh, We Were Just Leaving!”: California Court Halts Order Requiring Uber and Lyft to Reclassify Drivers
Last week, Uber Technologies, Inc. and Lyft, Inc. announced that they would suspend ridesharing operations in the State of California in response to an August 10, 2020 San Francisco Superior Court judge’s preliminary injunction, requiring the companies to reclassify their California drivers as “employees” within 10 days. The order came in the context of a lawsuit brought by California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the
Even a Worldwide Pandemic Is No Excuse For Blowing A Class Certification Deadline!
For years, federal courts in California have been inundated with wage and hour class actions. Because these cases often clogged district court dockets for months (and, sometimes, even years) on end, the Central District of California issued the former Local Rule 23-3, which set a 90-day deadline to file a motion for class certification from the filing of a complaint in or removal of an