The latest litigation trends, court decisions, & issues on California employment law
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…
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…
California law treats “tips” (defined as any discretionary gratuity left by a customer for a server) as a strange kind of compensation — which may belong to the employee who initially received the tip, other employees involved or, for certain purposes, even the employer itself. Given the confused property rights involved, businesses are often unsure…
Many California companies have recently been sued and had an assessment issued against them by the California Employment Development Department (“EDD”) for unpaid payroll taxes because the company allegedly misclassified its California workers as independent contractors rather than employees.
If a company improperly classifies a worker as an independent contractor, it may face liability from…
The question whether an employer is obligated to pay an employee for time on-call depends on interpretation of the term “hours worked.”
In a recent opinion regarding class action issues (Ghazaryan v. Diva Limousine, LTD), an appellate court offered an analysis of what would be considered “hours worked” and, therefore, entitling the employee…
Today, the California Supreme Court granted reivew of Brinkley v. Public Storage, Inc.:
BRINKLEY v. PUBLIC STORAGE INC.
Case: S168806, Supreme Court of CaliforniaDate (YYYY-MM-DD): 2009-01-14
Event Description: Review granted/briefing deferred (8.512(d)(2) civil case)
Notes:
The petition for review is GRANTED. Further action in this matter is deferred pending consideration and disposition of
…
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…
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…
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…
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…
