Gonzalez v. Nowhere Beverly Hills LLC, 107 Cal. App. 5th 111 (2024)

Edgar Gonzalez worked for Nowhere Santa Monica at its Erewhon market for approximately five months before filing a putative class action for wage-and-hour violations under the California Labor Code. Gonzalez filed suit against 10 Nowhere entities in response to which the 10 entities filed a motion to compel arbitration based upon an

Chavez v. California Collision, LLC, 107 Cal. App. 5th 298 (2024)

Before trial on Samuel Zarate’s wage/hour claims, the employer (California Collision, LLC (“CCL”)) made an offer of settlement pursuant to Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 998. After Zarate failed to recover at trial more money from CCL than it had offered before trial, the trial court awarded the company $54,473 in costs pursuant

The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has released updated guidance clarifying how the state’s latest statutory enactments will impact employers’ paid sick leave obligations.  Specifically, as we reported here, Assembly Bill (AB) 2499 and Senate Bill (SB) 1105 expand the permissible reasons for which employees can use paid sick leave.

The updated FAQs now explain that, in addition to existing uses of paid

Osborne v. Pleasanton Auto. Co., 106 Cal. App. 5th 361 (2024)

Eva Osborne sued her former employer (Pleasanton Automotive) and its executive general manager (the ironically named Bob Slap) for discrimination, retaliation, harassment and wage and hour violations arising during the four years while Osborne worked as Slap’s executive assistant. Two years into the litigation, Slap filed a cross-complaint against Osborne, asserting that statements

The “Summer of PAGA” continued last week when the California Supreme Court ruled in Turrieta v. Lyft, Inc., Case No. S271721, that a plaintiff in a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) action does not have standing to intervene or object to a settlement in a parallel action involving overlapping PAGA claims.

The structure of PAGA tends to invite the scenario facing the parties and

On June 27, 2024, the California Legislature passed AB 2288 and SB 92, compromise legislation that reformed the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and averted a ballot measure that threatened to repeal the law entirely this November.  We previously reported on the compromise here when the deal was announced, and published a primer on the substantive changes to the law here.

Arguably the

On June 27, 2024, by near-unanimous vote, the California Legislature passed two bills enacting much-needed reform to the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).  We previously reported on the legislative compromise last week, when the deal was first announced.

The most profound changes are contained in AB 2288, which amended Labor Code § 2699—the beating heart of PAGA.  AB 2288 makes several significant changes to the

The California Supreme Court handed employers a consolation prize this week, holding that an employer does not incur monetary penalties if there is a reasonable, good faith dispute over whether the employer violated the wage statement statute. Naranjo v. Spectrum Sec. Servs., Inc., 2024 WL 1979980 (Cal. May 6, 2024).

One of the employer’s workers in this case filed a putative class action, alleging

On March 25, 2024, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors, Case No. S275431, providing additional guidance on compensable “hours worked” under California law.  In a class action asserting wage claims on behalf of contractors at a construction site, the Supreme Court answered three questions certified by the Ninth Circuit as follows:

First, the Court held

DeMarinis v. Heritage Bank of Commerce, 2023 WL 9113099 (Cal. Ct. App. 2023)

Former bank employees filed a lawsuit against their former employer for various wage-and-hour violations. The lawsuit included a Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) claim, under which plaintiffs sued on behalf of all other “aggrieved employees” of the company. In response, the bank filed an unsuccessful motion to compel plaintiffs’ “individual” claims