Orange County Employment Law Blog
Employer Waives Right to Compel Arbitration by Failing to Follow Grievance Procedure First
In Knutsson v. KTLA, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (August 12, 2014), the California Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Five) affirmed the order of the Los Angeles County Superior Court (Judge Kleifield) denying defendant’s motion to compel arbitration of...
California Employers Must Reimburse Employees for Work-Related use of Personal Cell Phones
In Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Service, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (August 12, 2014), the California Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Two) reversed the order of the Los Angeles County Superior Court (Judge Sanchez-Gordon) denying class certification of...
Employer’s Unilateral Modification of Arbitration Agreement Invalid
In Rebolledo v. Tilly's, Inc., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (August 6, 2014), the California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division Three) affirmed the order of the Orange County Superior Court (Judge Perk) denying defendant’s motion to compel arbitration of...
Arbitrator, Not Court, Should Decide Whether Parties Agreed to Class Arbitration
In Sandquist v. Lebo Automotive, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (July 22, 2014), the California Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Seven) reversed the order of the Los Angeles County Superior Court (Judge Berle) dismissing plaintiff’s class claims, as the...
Employer May Force Salaried Exempt Employees to Use Paid Time Off to Cover Partial Day Absences
In Rhea v. General Atomics, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (July 21, 2014), the California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division One) affirmed the ruling of the San Diego County Superior Court (Judge Strauss) in favor of defendant on its motion for summary...
Plaintiff Must Arbitrate Claim of Independent Contractor Misclassification
In Galen v. Redfin Corp., ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (July 21, 2014), the California Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division One) reversed the order of the Alameda County Superior Court (Judge Brick) denying defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. Plaintiff...
California Salesperson Must be Paid at Least 1½ Times Minimum Wage Each Pay Period to Qualify for Commissioned Employee Exemption
In Peabody v. Time Warner Cable, ___ Cal.4th ___ (July 14, 2014), the California Supreme Court certified for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that an employer may not attribute commission wages paid in one pay period to other pay periods in order to satisfy...
Rule Prohibiting Male Prison Guards From Supervising Female Inmates May Constitute Sex Discrimination
In Anderson v. City & County of San Francisco, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. July 2, 2014), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in part and vacated in part the judgment by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Judge Illston) in favor of...
California Governor Signs New Bills Expanding Rights of Undocumented Workers and Employees who are Exposed to High Risk of Heat-Related Injury
On June 28, 2014, Governor Gerry Brown signed several bills that expand employee rights in California. Among these are Assembly Bill 2751, authored by Assemblymember Roger Hernández (D – West Covina), and Senate Bill 1360, authored by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima)....
Class Certification of Newspaper Carriers’ Claims That They Were Employees Rather Than Independent Contractors Depends on Common Showing of Defendant’s Right to Control Their Work
In Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers, ___ Cal.4th ___ (June 30, 2014), the California Supreme Court reversed the order of the Los Angeles County Superior Court (Judge West), denying class certification to plaintiff employees, and upheld its subsequent reversal by...