A California court has ruled that an employee’s emails with her lawyer over the company’s computer system were not privileged because they “were akin to consulting with her lawyer in her employer’s conference room, in a loud voice, with the door open, so that any reasonable person would expect that their discussion of her complaints about her employer would be overheard.” Holmes v. Petrovich Dev. Co., 2011 WL 117230 (Cal. Ct. App. 2011). 

Coppinger-Martin v. Solis, 627 F.3d 745 (2010)

Carole Coppinger-Martin alleged that Nordstrom, Inc. violated the whistle-blower-protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), 18 U.S.C. § 1514A, by terminating her employment in retaliation for her reporting to supervisors conduct she believed violated the rules and regulations of the SEC. The United States Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) dismissed Coppinger-Martin’s complaint as…

County of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles County Employee Relations Comm’n, 190 Cal. App. 4th 178 (2010)

During the course of collective bargaining, the Service Employees International Union asked the county for the personal contact information (names, home addresses and home telephone numbers) of county employees who are in the bargaining unit but who are not members of the union. When the county refused…

Toyota v. Superior Court, 189 Cal. App. 4th 1391 (2010)

Steven Braun sued Toyota Motor Sales and his supervisor Randall Bauer for gender discrimination, sexual harassment, defamation, constructive discharge and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Toyota and Bauer filed a motion to compel Braun to submit to an independent psychiatric examination, which the trial court granted, but it also permitted Braun’s attorney…

Grobeson v. City of Los Angeles, 190 Cal.App.4th 778 (2010)

A jury rejected Mitchell Grobeson’s claims against the City of Los Angeles and Daniel Watson for alleged unlawful discrimination, harassment, retaliation and constructive discharge. The trial court granted Grobeson’s motion for a new trial based on juror misconduct, and the Court of Appeal affirmed except that it ordered the unlawful retaliation claim that was…

Coleman v. Estes Express Lines, Inc., 627 F.3d 745 (2010)

Bradford Coleman sued his employer, Estes Express Lines and its regional division Estes West, in state court for alleged violations of California wage and hour statutes. Estes Express removed the action to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”), and Coleman filed a successful motion to remand it back to…

Futrell v. Payday Cal., Inc., 190 Cal.App.4th 1419 (2010)

Payday provides payroll processing and related services for companies that produce television commercials. In this putative class action, the employees were “freelance crewmembers” whom Reactor Films retained to complete its production activities. John Futrell worked in a private police capacity, providing traffic and crowd control services on various commercials produced by Reactor. On behalf of…

In re United Parcel Service Wage & Hour Cases, 2010 WL 4983586 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010)

At various times during his employment with UPS, David Taylor held three different jobs, including hub supervisor, on-road supervisor and center manager/business manager, in which he supervised numerous hourly employees and lower level supervisors. In all three jobs, Taylor worked in excess of eight hours per day and…

Parth v. Pomona Valley Hosp., 2010 WL 5064380 (9th Cir. 2010)

The Fair Labor Standards Act required Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (“PVHMC”) to pay its employees 1-1/2 times the employees’ regular rate for any employment in excess of eight hours in any workday and in excess of 80 hours in a 14-day period. However, many of PVHMC’s nurses preferred working 12-hour shifts in…

Bright v. 99¢ Only Stores, 189 Cal. App. 4th 1472 (2010)

One of the requirements of the wage orders promulgated by the Industrial Welfare Commission is that “[a]ll working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats…” Cashier Eugina Bright filed this putative class action against 99¢ Only Stores based on its alleged…