In a victory for California employers, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires enforcement of arbitration agreements that waive an employee’s right to bring a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claim on a representative basis – requiring such claims be brought on an individual basis in arbitration.
In Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a circuit split regarding whether a party has waived its right to arbitrate. Under the test reviewed by the Court, a party waived its right to arbitration if it knew of the right to arbitrate, acted inconsistently with that right, and prejudiced the other party by its inconsistent actions.
In Estrada v. Royalty Carpet Mills, Inc., 76 Cal. App. 5th 685 (2022), the California Court of Appeal, in relevant part, reversed a trial court’s order decertifying a subclass and dismissing related Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims as unmanageable. In doing so, the court held “a court cannot strike a PAGA claim based on manageability.”
Facts
Plaintiffs, employees at
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge recently ruled that a California law (Assembly Bill 979) requiring California corporations to implement race and LGBT quotas for their board of directors is unconstitutional.
The History of AB 979
On Sept. 30, 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 979, which required publicly held corporations with a principal executive office in
On Jan. 31, 2022, the California State Assembly passed AB 257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, also known as the “FAST Recovery Act.” If passed by the Legislature and signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the FAST Recovery Act would dramatically change how the majority of California restaurants are regulated in multiple critical ways.
On Feb. 9, 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 84, which again provides up to 80 hours of COVID-19 Supplemental Sick Leave to employees who work for employers with 26 or more employees.
There might be a light flickering at the end of a dark tunnel California employers have been walking through for more than 15 years. In December 2021, California’s Secretary of State approved the distribution of a petition to put on the 2022 ballot an initiative that would effectively repeal California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). PAGA has allowed employees to
In true California fashion, the legislature had a busy session that resulted in a number of new employment-related statutes and amendments being passed just in time for the holidays and will go into effect as of January 1, 2022 (unless otherwise noted below). While there were a few welcome “stocking stuffers” for California employers, the majority of the bills passed
California recently enacted an employee recall law that may substantially affect employers in the tourism and travel industries amid the emerging post-Covid-19 economy. On the heels of Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement to fully reopen its economy on June 15, 2021 – presuming the welcome and waning Covid-19 hospitalization rates – the state took another step to protect laid-off employees who
The past few years have seen increased scrutiny of practices and agreements (and employers that use them) that are viewed by some as anti-competitive, including no-poach agreements and non-solicitation agreements. The scrutiny is not limited to California regulators and courts, nor is this a matter limited to civil litigation.
In January 2021, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) initiated its first-ever