In Ghazaryan v. Diva Limousine, LTD, the appellate court reversed the trial court’s denial of plaintiff’s class certification motion and remanded the case with instructions that the trial court certify the class action. The case was brought by a limousine driver who filed a wage and hour class action against Diva Limousine, LTD. The
New Cases
House Approves Two Bills: Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and The Paycheck Fairness Act
By Anthony Zaller on
Posted in New Cases
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision that made it more difficult to sue over past pay discrimination, and prevented Ledbetter from filing an employment discrimination claim. The WSJ notes this is, in effect, and earmark for the plaintiff’s trial lawyers:
[The
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Trial Court’s Discretion To Award Attorney’s Fees To Prevailing Defendant
By Anthony Zaller on
Posted in New Cases, Wrongful Termination
Laura Young was terminated after closing down a 24-hour service station for several hours, in violation of company policy, sued her employer and her supervisor, Angela Lopez (the station manager), alleging claims of harassment on the basis of mental disability, retaliation, and wrongful termination, among others.
The employer and supervisor won summary judgment, ending the…
Wal-Mart Settles Wage & Hour Class Action for $54 Million
By Anthony Zaller on
Wal-Mart settled another wage and hour class action in Minnesota for $54 million. The class includes as many as 100,000 employees who worked from September1998 to November 2008. The judge found that Wal-Mart had violated Minnesota’s Fair Labor Standards Act more than 2 million times. This settlement is similar to a 2005 verdict in…
Petition For Review Filed In Brinkley v. Public Storage
By Anthony Zaller on
Plaintiff filed a petition for review to the California Supreme Court in Brinkley v. Public Storage, Inc. Shortly after the Supreme Court granted review of Brinker v. Superior Court, the Brinkley decision was issued by a lower appellate court (click here to read the opinion in Brinkley v. Public Storage, Inc.). The…
Court Holds That Employer Is Not Liable For Punitive Damages For Labor Code Violations
By Anthony Zaller on
Christine Brewer, a longtime waitress employed at the Cottonwood Golf Club restaurant, quit her job in March 2005. Shortly thereafter, Brewer filed this action against her employer, Premier Golf Properties, LP, dba Cottonwood Golf Club alleging a causes of action for age discrimination, for meal and rest break violations (among other Labor Code violations), sought…
Update on Brinker v. Superior Court and other California Wage and Hour Issues
I recently conducted a webinar on new developments involving meal and rest breaks, expense reimbursement, paid time off pitfalls, and other wage and hour issues California employers should be aware of. It is approximately 30 minutes. Click here to download, or click here to listen via iTunes.
Top Ten Stupidest Things California Employers Could Say
By Anthony Zaller on
Your company may be in trouble if you (or the president/owner you work for) have had one of the following thoughts:
1. My company is too small to be sued in a wage and hour class action.
2. I’m too busy to think about employment law issues – I’ll get to it next week.
3. …
Noncompetition Agreements In California Are Narrowly Construed
In Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP (link to PDF), the California Supreme Court ruled on the following issues: (1) To what extent does Business and Professions Code section 16600 prohibit employee noncompetition agreements; and (2) is a contract provision requiring an employee to release “any and all” claims unlawful because it encompasses nonwaivable statutory protections…