We invite you to review our newly-posted January 2024 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Sexual Harassment
New Trial Of Sexual Harassment Claim Ordered Following Admission Of Evidence Of Other Employees’ Complaints Against Plaintiff
Argueta v. Worldwide Flight Servs., Inc., 97 Cal. App. 5th 822 (2023)
Eunices Argueta worked as an agent in the import department of the employer, a freight operations company, reporting to Dzung Nguyen whom she claimed had sexually harassed her. A jury returned a defense verdict, and Argueta filed a motion for new trial and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, both of which…
A Single Incident Of Harassing Conduct May Create A Hostile Work Environment
Beltran v. Hard Rock Hotel Licensing, Inc., 97 Cal. App. 5th 865 (2023)
Stephanie Beltran, a server at the Hard Rock Hotel in Palm Springs, alleged she had been sexually harassed by Juan Rivera, the former General Manager of the hotel. Beltran reported to Human Resources that Rivera had “grabbed or slapped her ass.” Beltran also testified in her deposition about “multiple incidents…
November 2023 California Employment Law Notes
We invite you to review our newly-posted November 2023 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
- Company That Hired Competitor’s Employee Was Not Entitled To Arbitrate Claims
- Disability Discrimination Claim Was Properly Dismissed On Summary Judgment
- Employee’s Attorney’s “Pervasive Incivility” Justified $460,000 Reduction In Fees
- Employees Were Properly Awarded $7.2 Million
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Once Again, Employer Loses Right To Arbitrate By Failing To Timely Pay Arbitration Fees
Doe v. Superior Court, 95 Cal. App. 5th 346 (2023)
An anonymous employee sued her former employer and former manager, alleging multiple instances of sexual harassment and assault. The former employer successfully compelled the case to arbitration. The deadline for the employer to pay the arbitration fees pursuant to Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1281.98(a)(1) was October 3, 2022, but the arbitrator did not…
Is Arbitration Becoming “Just Somebody That We Used to Know”? — The Beginning of the End of Arbitration
When Congress passed and President Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (“the Act”) last year, we predicted it was just the beginning of an all-out federal assault on arbitration. We weren’t wrong – so far, there are additional bills pending in Congress to exempt age and race discrimination and harassment claims from arbitration. See H.R.4120 – Protecting Older …
The “Real Slim Shady’s” Days May Be Numbered (At Least in the Workplace)!
Fed up with hearing “very offensive” songs like Eminem’s “Stan” and Too $hort’s “B*job Betty” on the job, Stephanie Sharp and several other employees (including a male) filed a hostile work environment claim under Title VII against their employer. Plaintiffs claimed they could not escape the music because it was “[b]lasted from commercial-strength speakers” that were mounted on forklifts and driven around the warehouse where…
March 2023 California Employment Law Notes
We invite you to review our newly-posted March 2023 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
- No Claim By Employee Who Was Friends With Alleged Harasser
- Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit Was Properly Dismissed
- Employer That Failed To Layoff Employee Before She Became Disabled May Have Discriminated
- Court Compels Individual But Not
…
No Claim By Employee Who Was Friends With Alleged Harasser
Atalla v. Rite Aid Corp., 2023 WL 2521909 (Cal. Ct. App. 2023)
Hanin Atalla and Erik Lund had a social relationship and became “close friends” before Atalla began working at Rite Aid where Lund worked as a district manager/district leader. Atalla and her husband socialized with Lund and his wife, and Atalla and Lund exchanged hundreds of texts; joked with one another in those…
No Sexual Harassment Claim Between Friends
Under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), employers generally are strictly liable for a supervisor’s harassment, even where the employer is unaware of the supervisor’s alleged bad actions. While this left many employers without much recourse in the event supervisors misbehaved, a recently published Court of Appeal decision offers some hope. In Atalla v. Rite Aid Corp., 2023 WL 2521909 (Cal. Ct. App.