Labor & Employment Law Blog

The National Labor Relations Board is a five member body of presidential appointees. However, for approximately the past 26 months, the NLRB has operated with just two sitting board members, Republican Peter Schaumber and Democrat Wilma Liebman. This has resulted in a backlog of unresolved cases pending before the NLRB and in a case pending before the United States Supreme Court calling for the Supreme Court to decide whether the National Labor Relations Act permits the NLRB to act when there are only two sitting members of the NLRB, New Process Steel v. National Labor Relations Board, in which the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on March 23, 2010.

Today, the California Court of Appeal certified for publication its decision in Arenas v. El Torito Restaurants, et al., holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied class certification of the plaintiff restaurant managers' claims that they and other managers were improperly classified as exempt employees.

Last weekend President Obama made two recess appointments filling seats at the National Labor Relations Board. Union lawyers Craig Becker and Mark Pearce will fill two of the three vacant seats on the Board. Members Becker and Pearce were originally nominated as a package with a third, Republican, nominee for Senate consideration. Senate confirmation did not happen. No Republican received a recess ...

On March 25, 2010, we conducted our 11th Annual Employment Law Conference at the Cerritos Center for Performing Arts and the Cerritos Sheraton.

On March 23, 2010, in Mendoza v. ADP Screening and Selection Services, Inc., the California Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's decision to strike Mendoza's complaint alleging ADP violated various statutes by disclosing to a prospective employer the appearance of Mendoza's name on the Megan's Law Website maintained by the California Department of Justice. For example, Mendoza alleged ADP violated California Penal Code Section 290.46, which prohibits the use of information disclosed on the Megan's Law Website for purposes relating to, among other things, employment.

Robert R. Roginson, formerly Chief Counsel for the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, has rejoined the firm as a partner in its Employer Services Department. Appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2007, Mr. Roginson represented and advised the California Labor Commissioner and her staff in all aspects of enforcement and interpretation of California’s labor and wage and hour laws, licensing requirements, and retaliation statutes.

As we previously reported here, on February 8, 2010, the California Court of Appeal published its decision in Jaimez v. DAIOHS USA, Inc., a decision we think is wrongly decided in many ways and that might make it significantly easier for plaintiffs to obtain class certification in wage and hour cases.

As previously reported here, a recent report issued by the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Office of Court Research, shows that employment cases were the most frequently filed class actions, representing 29.3% of the class actions filed and that over half of the employment cases filed alleged violations of Labor Code provisions governing payment of wages, rest and meal ...

Today, in Alcazar, et al. v. The Corporation Of The Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, et al., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Catholic seminarian's claims against his church for allegedly unpaid wages brought under a Washington state minimum wage statute is barred as a matter of law by the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.