Labor & Employment Law Blog

On September 25, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 10 (“AB10”), which will increase the state’s minimum wage to $9.00 per hour by July 1, 2014, and $10.00 per hour by January 1, 2016.

With the close of the 2013 legislative session on September 12, 2013, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 10 (“AB 10”), which will increase the state’s minimum wage to $9.00 per hour by July 1, 2014, and $10.00 per hour by January 1, 2016.  AB 10 now awaits signature by Governor Jerry Brown by October 13, 2013.  The Governor has promised he will sign the bill.

The current California minimum wage is ...

A California Court of Appeal struck down yet another employment arbitration provision, based on lack of notice to the employees, and an attempted modification to the agreement after the plaintiffs’ claims accrued and the plaintiffs’ complaint was filed.

In Avery v. Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc., six employees sued Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc., an operator of four hospitals in ...

Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo (AALRR), a statewide firm, announced today that partner Nate Kowalski has again been named to the Daily Journal’s list of the Top 75 Labor & Employment Attorneys in California. This is the second time that Mr. Kowalski has been included among this exclusive group.

Click here for entire article.

The trucking industry has a special history with respect to the employment status of its drivers.  Those who own or lease their own rigs prefer to view themselves as owner-operators.  They may work principally for one carrier or can work for multiple carriers in different parts of the country.  This tradition runs so deep that even Teamster Union contracts have had special carve-outs for the owner operator.  Over time, the growth of the industry into different carrier modalities, from interstate freight to web based consignment package delivery, has changed the opportunities for drivers and the economic model for the shippers.  Still, the independent contractor model has remained resilient across the industry, despite numerous legal challenges.

On July 2, 2013, the United States Treasury Department announced that implementation and enforcement of the shared responsibility mandate("employer mandate") under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Act”) will be delayed by one year. Until today, employers were preparing to be in compliance with the Act starting on January 1, 2014. As a result of today’s announcement, employer ...

A second federal appellate court has rejected the National Labor Relations Board’s mandate that private sector employers post a Notice spelling out some, but not all, of employees' workplace rights. The ruling in Chamber of Commerce v. NLRB comes from a lawsuit brought in South Carolina to challenge the poster regulation.

Earlier, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected the NLRB's ...

In Jesus Leyva v. Medline Industries, Inc., plaintiff that alleged he and other purported class members were not paid for all hours worked because the employer rounded employee’s start times in 29 minute increments such that an employee clocking in at 7:31 a.m., would be paid only from 8:00 a.m., onward; that the employer excluded non-discretionary bonuses from the calculation of employees’ overtime rates and thereby improperly depressing the employees’ overtime wages; that the employer willfully failed to pay to employees at the time of termination all wages due and owing and is therefore subject to “waiting time” penalties; and that the wage statements the employer issued to the employees did not accurately state all hours worked and all applicable rates of pay and is therefore subject to wage statement penalties.

In Dailey v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., the California Court of Appeal held the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied class certification in a case alleging Sears misclassified as exempt auto center managers and assistant managers.

Plaintiff alleged Sears misclassified as exempt auto center managers and store managers when they should have been classified as non-exempt because, according to ...

On May 7, a federal court of appeals in Washington, DC ruled that the National Labor Relations Board cannot require private sector employers across the country to post a workplace poster which advises employees of certain rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Citing free speech concerns and a lack of balance in favoring a unionized workplace, the court struck a further blow against NLRB's proposed ...