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 one male) filed a hostile work environment claim against their employer under Title VII. Plaintiffs claimed they could not escape the music because it was “[b]lasted from
We invite you to review our newly-posted May 2023 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
In the latest in a string of defeats for the State of California, a Ninth Circuit panel unanimously held that AB 5 (the anti-independent contractor law) may violate the equal protection rights of independent contractor drivers and the gig companies that retain them. The panel found that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that
The long-running feud between California and the “gig economy” shows no sign of ending soon. On April 28, 2023, the State of California submitted a petition to the Ninth Circuit in Olson v. California, No. 21-55757 (9th Cir.), seeking review or a rehearing before a new panel of judges, after a Ninth Circuit panel in March unanimously held that the plaintiffs (Uber, Postmates, and
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:
Clarkson v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., 59 F.4th 424 (9th Cir. 2023)
Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), employers are required to provide employees who take military leave with the same non-seniority rights and benefits as colleagues who take comparable non-military leaves. Casey Clarkson, a pilot for Alaska Airlines and a military reservist, alleged that the airline’s failure to provide paid
Armstrong v. Michaels Stores, Inc., 59 F.4th 1011 (9th Cir. 2023)
Teresa Armstrong executed an arbitration agreement with her employer Michaels Stores. After filing her claims in state court, Michaels answered, asserting its right to arbitration as an affirmative defense and removing the action to federal district court. The parties then submitted a joint case management statement that referenced as an issue in dispute
Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta, 2023 WL 2013326 (9th Cir. 2023)
A Ninth Circuit panel struck down California’s AB 51 (aka the Request Arbitration, Go to Jail Law). The law imposed civil and criminal penalties on employers that required employees to sign arbitration agreements. The same panel previously held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempted much of the law but declined to
Yesterday, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel revisited its own 2021 order and finally struck down California’s anti-mandatory employment arbitration law, Assembly Bill 51 (“AB 51”). In an opinion drafted by the former dissenting judge, Judge Sandra Ikuta, the new majority declared AB 51 was preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”).
The statute in question, signed into law by Governor Newsom in 2019, was California
We invite you to review our newly-posted January 2023 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include: