By Mani Dabiri | Published June 15, 2018 | Posted in Civil Business Litigation and Investigations, Government Subpoenas and Investigations, White-Collar and Regulatory Defense | Tagged Tags: businessandcommerce, laborandemployment, mensrea, PAGA, whistleblowers |
The Name of the Game is Compliance
Two more points for now on California’s Private Attorneys General Act. First, in many cases, you don’t have to prove that your employer’s violation hurt you or cost you anything. You just need a violation. For example, the Labor Code requires pay stubs to accurately itemize certain basic information. If yours don’t, it’s a violation Read More
Read MoreCalifornia’s Private Attorneys General Act
Here’s more of what we touched on last week. Under PAGA, employees can sue their employers for all labor-code violations against them and their fellow employees. To do it, you have to be a current or former employee who was affected by at least one of the violations. If so, you can sue on behalf of Read More
Read MoreMake PAGA Great Again
Say what? PAGA refers to a California law that allows employees to sue their employer for labor-code violations on behalf of all fellow employees. It means one person can sue for all violations an employer has committed, even if they only affected other people, as long as at least one affected him or her personally. It’s Read More
Read MoreSCOTUS Curbs Employment Class Actions
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers may use arbitration agreements to make employees waive their right to sue as a class. The case pitted two federal laws against each other. On one hand, the Federal Arbitration Act tells courts to enforce arbitration agreements. On the other hand, the National Labor Relations Act gives Read More
Read MoreCareful Whom You Call An Independent Contractor
We’re talking employment law again because the California Supreme Court issued a big decision this week. The Court unanimously declared a new test for classifying workers as employees versus independent contractors under the state’s wage orders. Those are the laws and regulations that say you have to pay a minimum wage; you have to pay Read More
Read MoreThe California Equal Pay Act
We talked about the federal Equal Pay Act last week, but California’s had its own law since 1949. You’ll find it in Labor Code section 1197.5. Importantly, since 2017, California’s law covers not just sex but race and ethnicity. So if there’s a difference in pay between employees along those lines, an employer must explain Read More
Read MoreYou Can’t Rely on Prior Wages or Salary to Pay Women Less
One of the last cases of Judge Reinhardt’s life had to do with the Equal Pay Act of 1963. He wrote the decision, which was published last week, and it begins with these words: “The Equal Pay Act stands for a principle as simple as it is just: men and women should receive equal pay for equal work Read More
Read MoreSCOTUS Says You Must Tell the SEC
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court settled an important question for the SEC’s whistleblower program. That program awards you money for reporting corporate misdeeds to the Commission. It also protects you from retaliation because you can sue to recover your position, double your back pay, and accrued interest, legal fees, and litigation costs. Well, the Court said you Read More
Read MoreCalifornia’s New Law of Fair Shakes
Whether you’re an employer or an employee, take note. Earlier this month, California enacted the Fair Chance Act. This means that, beginning next year, many employers can no longer ask about or look into criminal convictions until they’ve decided a person is right for the job. That means they can’t ask about convictions anymore on a job application. Read More
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