Labor & Employment Law Blog

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein rocked California’s Public Employees Retirement System (“CalPERS”) on October 1, 2014, verbally ruling that the City of Stockton may reduce pension payments in bankruptcy like its other debts. However, Judge Klein declined to issue a final ruling on Stockton’s bankruptcy plan, preferring to “reflect more carefully” until the parties’ next scheduled ...

On June 17, 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a city audit of an employee’s text messages on a city-owned device did not violate the Fourth Amendment.  In City of Ontario v. Quon, the Supreme Court determined that the City of Ontario’s search was reasonable under the narrow factual circumstances of this case. Significantly, however, the Supreme Court declined to address the broader issue of to what extent does an employee have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his electronic communications on employer provided devices.

On May 17, 2010, in Guinn v. County of San Bernardino, the California Court of Appeal held that a a county probation officer who did not pass his probationary period after being promoted to a supervisory position was not entitled under the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act to an administrative appeal of the County's decision to return him to his prior position.