In Chindarah v. Pick Up Stix, Inc. (February 26, 2009) the court of appeal held that employers may enter into settlement agreements with current and former employees over disputed wage claims. At issue in the case was whether the employer’s settlement and release agreements entered into with individual employees settling disputed overtime wages were valid
Punitive Damages Are Not Recoverable For Alleged Labor Code Violations
As a matter of law, Plaintiffs’ cannot recovery punitive damages for Labor Code violations. Brewer v. Premier Golf Properties (2008) 168 Cal.App.4th 1243, 1252. In Brewer, the court stated:
We are convinced, both by application of the “new right-exclusive remedy” doctrine and under more general principles that bar punitive damages awards absent breach of
Individual Corporate Officers Cannot Be Personally Liable For the Alleged Labor Code Violations of the Corporation
California law has held that “employer” does not include an entity’s agents, and therefore there is no personal liability for Labor Code violations. Reynolds v. Bement (2005) 36 Cal.4th 1075, 1087-88; Jones v. Gregory (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 798, 805. The California Supreme Court explained in Reynolds that under common law, corporate agents are not personally
Less Discrimination Lawsuits Equals More Wage And Hour Lawsuits?
The WSJ recently reported, there is a trend that discrimination based lawsuits fair a lot worse than most other cases filed in federal court. A study found that discrimination cases lose at a higher rate and are more likely to be dismissed at early stages in the lawsuit. The article reports:
The odds against
How To Approach Meal & Rest Breaks While Waiting For The California Supreme Court’s Decision in Brinker v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum)
While California employers anxiously wait for the California Supreme Court’s opinion in Brinker v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum) (and also Brinkley v. Public Storage, Inc.), what steps should they in regards to meal and rest break policies?
Record meal breaks.
This is already an obligation of California employers, and the Brinker decision does not change
Politicians Closer To CA Budget Deal – No Changes To Meal & Rest Break Laws
It appears that the California state politicians are close to finalizing a budget deal in Sacramento by this Friday. The Governor placed everything on the table during these negotiations, including attempting to bring some relief to businesses in regards to the meal and rest break laws and even revising California’s requirements that overtime is owed
Time Off Work For Jury Duty
As long as employers are given reasonable advance notice, employees are entitled to take time off to serve as a juror or as a witness if subpoenaed to appear at trial. Employers may not discriminate or otherwise punish an employee for taking time off to serve as a juror or a witness.
Pay During Jury
Employers Beware: Costs Related To Employee Uniforms
Question: May I require my employees to wear a particular uniform?
California law allows employers to require employees to wear particular types of clothing or uniforms to work. If an employer requires non-exempt employees to wear a uniform, the employer must pay for and maintain it for the employee. What constitutes a "uniform" is not
Google Latitude In The Workplace
Google Latitude, a new Google application allows users to track the physical location 
of other people through a mobile phone or computer. While the GPS tracking technology is nothing new, the amazing aspect of this is how inexpensive tracking technology has become. Many employers have already implemented GPS tracking, but now with Google’s basically
Rules To Avoid Paying Overtime For “Makeup Time”
As difficult as it is to comply with California’s daily overtime rules, it is easy to forget the one form of flexibility provided to employers — makeup time. This provision allows employers to avoid paying overtime when employees want to take off an equivalent amount of time during the same work week. There are, however