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.

Even seemingly minor wage and hour violations present a very real threat of crippling or potentially ruinous liability for California’s employers when assessed in class and Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) representative action lawsuits. To make matters worse, plaintiffs are increasingly targeting individual owners and agents in addition to their corporate employer, which begs the question: When can individuals be held personally liable in wage and hour lawsuits?