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Laffitte v. Robert Half Int’l Inc., 1 Cal. 5th 480 (2016)

An objecting class member in a wage and hour lawsuit challenged the trial court’s award of an attorney’s fee calculated as a percentage (one-third) of the overall settlement amount of $19 million. The objector asserted that pursuant to Serrano v. Priest, 20 Cal. 3d 25 (1977) (“Serrano III“), every attorney’s…

McLean v. State of Cal., 2016 WL 4395672 (Cal. S. Ct. 2016)

Janis McLean, a retired deputy attorney general, filed suit against the State of California on behalf of herself and a class of former state employees who, having resigned or retired, did not receive their final wages within the time period set forth in Cal. Labor Code § 202 (72 hours). McLean alleged…

Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 579 U.S. ___, 2016 WL 3369424 (2016)

An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) exempts from its overtime requirements “any salesman, partsman, or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, or farm implements.” Later, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an opinion letter and amended its Field Operations Handbook to state that service advisors also…

Green v. Brennan, 578 U.S. ___, 136 S. Ct. 1769 (2016)

Marvin Green alleged racial discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, claiming he was denied a promotion because he is black; his supervisors had accused Green of the crime of intentionally delaying the mail. In an agreement between the parties dated December 16, 2009, the Postal Service agreed not to pursue criminal…

City of Petaluma v. Superior Court, 2016 WL 3342543 (Cal. Ct. App. 2016)

Andrea Waters, who worked as a firefighter and paramedic for the City of Petaluma, alleged she was harassed and discriminated against based upon her sex. Waters also claimed she suffered retaliation after she complained about the treatment. Waters took a leave of absence from her job, filed a complaint with the…

Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., 63 Cal. 4th 1 (2016)

In this opinion, the California Supreme Court answered three questions posed to it by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit involving suitable seating requirements under California law. Section 14(A) of California Wage Order No. 7-2001 states that “All working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the…

Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. ___, 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016)

Following a jury trial, the employees in this class/collective action recovered $2.9 million in compensatory damages for violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The employees alleged that they did not receive statutorily mandated overtime pay for the time they spent donning and doffing protective equipment at a pork processing…

Please join Anthony Oncidi with Proskauer and David Weisenfeld with XpertHR for today’s webinar. JULY 8 @ 2pm ET

This webinar will provide employers with expert guidance on how they are affected by the Supreme Court’s latest far-reaching rulings.

As is so often the case, the Supreme Court is once again deciding controversial issues that affect every employee in every workplace in the country. In

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Dep’t of Homeland Sec. v. MacLean, 574 U.S. ___, 135 S. Ct. 913 (2015)

Robert J. MacLean became a federal air marshal for the TSA in 2001. In that role, MacLean was assigned to protect passenger flights from potential hijackings. In July 2003, the Department of Homeland Security issued a confidential advisory about a potential hijacking plot by al Qaeda to be executed by…

The California Supreme Court’s decision in Iskanian v. CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC, (discussed here), held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) except as to claims that were made pursuant to the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). PAGA allows aggrieved employees to represent other current and former employees and recover civil penalties on behalf…