The California Court of Appeal has definitively resolved an issue that was until now somewhat ambiguous: Can volunteers in fact volunteer their time for nonprofit organizations without receiving pay or other forms of compensation? The answer is YES. Woods v. American Film Institute, Case No. B307220 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 17, 2021).
Laurie Woods worked for four days as a volunteer at the American
We invite you to review our newly-posted November 2021 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Amaro v. Anaheim Arena Mgmt., LLC, 69 Cal. App. 5th 521 (2021)
In 2017, Irean Amaro filed this wage and hour class action and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claim against her employer; there already were two existing class actions asserting the same claims, which were filed in 2014 and 2016. After Amaro reached a global settlement in her lawsuit, which included the
We invite you to review our newly-posted September 2021 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Gallano v. Burlington Coat Factory of Cal., LLC, 2021 WL 3616152 (Cal. Ct. App. 2021)
Krizel Gallano, a former employee of Burlington Coat Factory, filed this putative class action in which she alleged that Burlington forces its employees to pay for business losses incurred for common on-the-job mistakes by “misusing” California’s shoplifting statute (Cal. Pen. Code § 490.5) and intimidating employees into signing promissory
We invite you to review our newly-posted July 2021 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Wilson v. The La Jolla Group, 61 Cal. App. 5th 897 (2021)
The trial court declined to certify a class action filed by individuals who worked as signature gatherers for the La Jolla Group (“LJG”) on behalf of political campaigns and political action committees. LJG classified these workers as independent contractors, though they alleged they were misclassified and should have been classified and paid as
Magadia v. Wal-Mart Assocs., Inc., 999 F.3d 668 (9th Cir. 2021)
In this class action, Roderick Magadia, a former Walmart employee, alleged violations of California’s meal-break and wage-statement requirements (Cal. Lab. Code §§ 226.7 and 226(a)). After the district court (Judge Lucy H. Koh) determined that Magadia suffered no meal-break violation, it decertified the class, but permitted Magadia to still seek PAGA penalties on that
Usher v. White, 64 Cal. App. 5th 883 (2021)
The plaintiffs in this putative class action lawsuit (service technicians) alleged they had been misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees. They amended their complaint to add Shirley White and her son Jeff White as individual defendants in the case, relying upon Cal. Lab. Code § 558.1, which creates personal liability for an “owner, director, officer,
We have long reported about that modern marvel of well-intentioned legislation gone awry known as the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) – and we also have noted that in practice, PAGA stands for Pretty-much All Goes to the Attorneys. A recently published report (the “Report”) from some of the former leaders of the California Department of Industrial Relations and Cal/OSHA suggests we were