Leaves of Absence

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California Governor Jerry Brown has until September 30th to sign or veto A.B. 1522, a recently passed bill that would require businesses employing at least one person in California to provide employees with paid sick leave and to comply with new recordkeeping and informational requirements. If signed by the governor, the bill will become effective on July 1, 2015.

Most employees would accrue one hour…

White v. County of Los Angeles, 2014 WL 1478701 (Cal. Ct. App. 2014)

Susan White worked as a Senior District Attorney Investigator with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Following the death of her brother-in-law, White began experiencing emotional difficulties on the job and was observed acting erratically in the workplace with “very high emotional highs and very low lows.” At one point,…

$150,000 Sexual Harassment Verdict And $680,000 Fee Award Affirmed
Taylor v. Nabors Drilling USA, LP, 222 Cal. App. 4th 1228 (2014)

Max Taylor worked as a floorhand on an oil rig where he alleged he was harassed by his supervisors who called him “queer,” “fagot [sic],” “homo,” and “gay porn star” and was subjected to other humiliating and harassing conduct, including simulated masturbation…

Minimum Wage Increase

Gov. Brown has signed into law a measure that will increase California’s minimum wage from $8.00 per hour to $9.00 per hour on July 1, 2014, and to $10.00 per hour on January 1, 2016. So, California employers must prepare for a 25% increase in the minimum wage over the next two years.

The California Chamber of Commerce lists the new law…

On March 28, 2012, a California Assembly committee considered a bill that would expand the scope of California’s Family Rights Act (CFRA). These proposed expansions to CFRA could potentially increase the amount of unpaid leave time taken by employees in California and would almost certainly add to the challenges already faced by California employers seeking to comply with complex state and federal leave laws while…

Rogers v. County of Los Angeles, 198 Cal. App. 4th 480 (2011)

After 19 weeks of medical leave, Katrina L. Rogers returned to her job as the personnel officer in the executive office responsible for rendering administrative and other support services to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. During her LOA, Rogers’ doctor told her that she could not perform her duties because…

Lewis v. United States, 641 F.3d 1174 (9th Cir. 2011)

Janet Lewis worked for the United States Air Force as the director of a child development center on the Elmendorf Air Force Base. In 2006, Lewis requested 120 days of leave without pay pursuant to the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). The employer requested a medical certification to support Lewis’s request for FMLA leave.…

Wills v. Superior Court, 194 Cal. App. 4th 312 (2011)

Linda Wills, who worked as a clerk for the Orange County Superior Court, was terminated from her employment after she told co-workers she was going to add them to her “Kill Bill” list and forwarded a cell phone ringtone to several people, including a co-worker, that said in a “shrieking directive”: “I’m going to…

Sullivan v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., 623 F.3d 770 (2010)

Christina Sullivan was the manager of a Factory 2-U store before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Dollar Tree later purchased Factory 2-U’s existing leasehold on the store where Sullivan was employed. Prior to the anniversary of her hire by Dollar Tree, Sullivan’s mother became ill but Dollar Tree did not provide Sullivan with…

In a 7-2 decision, the United States Supreme Court has held that AT&T did not violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (“PDA”) when it based its calculation of employees’ pensions in part on a pre- PDA accrual rule that treated pregnancy leave less favorably than other forms of disability leave. AT&T Corp v. Hulteen, No. 07-543 (May 18, 2009). The Court’s decision reversed the Ninth Circuit and confirmed the presumption that discrimination statutes will not be applied retroactively.

Background

Plaintiffs were Noreen Hulteen and three other AT&T employees who had taken pregnancy leave before April 29, 1979, the effective date of the PDA. At the time they took leave, AT&T based employee pension benefits on a seniority system (i.e., a system based on length of service) that provided less service credit for pregnancy leaves than it did for other forms of temporary disability leave. When the PDA took effect, AT&T changed its system and began to provide full service credit for pregnancy leaves. It did not, however, retroactively adjust the accrued service credits of Plaintiffs or any other employees who previously had taken pregnancy leave. Therefore, when those employees retired, they received an overall pension amount that was less than it would have been if AT&T had afforded full service credit to their pre-PDA pregnancy leaves.

Plaintiffs and their union filed suit against AT&T in the Northern District of California alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and pregnancy in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the PDA. Plaintiffs argued that it was unlawful for AT&T, in the present day, to apply a seniority-based pension system that incorporated antiquated pre-PDA accrual rules that had differentiated on the basis of pregnancy. Doing so, Plaintiffs contended, carried forward the old service credit differential so as to produce a disparate effect in the amount of the pension benefits of employees who had taken pre-PDA pregnancy leave. The district court agreed, holding that AT&T had engaged in unlawful pregnancy discrimination, and the Ninth Circuit, en banc, affirmed. Because the Ninth Circuit’s decision directly conflicted with rulings from other circuits, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve the circuit split.