Labor & Employment Law Blog

1. Summary of the Ruling

In Gonzalez v. Nowhere Beverly Hills LLC, 2024 WL 4948533 (Dec. 3, 2024), the California Court of Appeal for the Second District held that plaintiff-employees cannot simultaneously allege their employers’ corporate subsidiaries and parent companies acted as “joint employers,” while also attempting to avoid arbitration with these related entities by arguing they were not parties to the employment contract and arbitration agreement.

In the recently decided Howell v. State Department of State Hospitals, 2024 WL 4997719 (December 5, 2024), the trial court and court of appeal upheld a Scrooge-like verdict by a jury that resulted in Ms. Howell’s receiving NO emotional distress damages and limited attorneys’ fees even though the jury found she had been discriminated against based on a mental disability.  A closer examination of why Ms. Howell found a lump of coal in her holiday stocking is merited.