Recently we have been litigating and answering basic issues about employers’ obligations to provide meal and rest breaks. It has been a few years since the California Supreme Court issued its groundbreaking ruling in Brinker Restaurant Group v. Superior Court, and there is no indication that wage and hour litigation for California employers will
The Labor Code requires that an employer who “fails to provide a meal or rest or recovery period . . . shall pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation for each workday that the meal or rest or recovery period is not provided.” What does “regular rate
In ZB, N.A. v. Superior Court (Lawson) (Sept. 12, 2019), the California Supreme Court held that plaintiffs cannot recover the unpaid wages described in Labor Code section 558 in a Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) claim. This ruling drastically limits the amount of penalties that plaintiffs can attempt to recover in PAGA actions.
Happy Friday. Here is a refresher post for today’s Friday’s Five about some requirements about 10-minute rest breaks required for non-exempt employees:
1. Timing of rest breaks
The 10-minute rest break must be provided to employees who work over three and a half hours. Employers must authorize and permit employees to take 10-minute rest breaks
In April 2019, a jury in a California federal court awarded plaintiffs over $6 million in damages for missed meal breaks. Hamilton et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. et al. (Case No. 5:17-cv-01415-AB-KK). The case involved 5,000 employees who worked at Walmart’s fulfillment center in Chino, California. Plaintiffs brought a class action against Walmart alleging
In Rodriguez v. Taco Bell Corp., 896 F.3d 952 (9th Cir. 2018), an employee brought a putative class action alleging that Taco Bell’s discounted meal policy effectively denied employees the ability to take a duty free meal break. At issue in this case was Taco Bell’s policy of offering a discounted meal from the
With the start of 2019, I’m writing a series of posts covering employment law areas that employers should audit on a routine basis. The first two articles covered hiring practices and records retention practices. This post covers five wage and hour considerations that every California employer should review on a routine basis:
1. Payroll
The beginning of 2019 brought substantial employment case settlements and verdicts. This Friday’s Five reviews the settlements and verdicts that should catch the attention of all employers, as well as a review of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new ruling on arbitration agreements for transportation workers:
1. Restaurant settles claim with Labor Commissioner for $4 million
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is spending some quality time with family members. In part to give me a bit of a break from creating entirely new content, this holiday edition of Friday’s Five is five recent videos from my YouTube channel:
1. Holiday leave policies:
2. Understanding the mediation process:
It is important for employers in California to make sure that their front-line managers dealing with employees on a day-to-day basis are knowledgeable about different employment issues that routinely come up in the employment context. This week’s Friday’s Five covers five areas that employers should review with their managers to ensure they inform the appropriate