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Brendan J. Begley

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Brendan is a shareholder who spearheads the firm’s Appeals and Writs group and is a member of the firm’s litigation, labor and employment, and trust, probate and elder-abuse litigation groups. He is an Appellate Law Specialist certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

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A precedential decision last week by the California Court of Appeal may leave some employers feeling like no good deed goes unpunished. That decision ruled that a jury would have to decide if an employer willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FRCA”) by letting a non-attorney manager communicate with outside lawyers to ensure that its background checks were in compliance with the FRCA.
Continue Reading No Good Deed Goes Unpunished? Use Lawyers to Avoid Trouble Related to Background Checks

A blog we published here on May 28, 2020, correctly noted that California’s workers-compensation laws may immunize employers from most civil lawsuits alleging that employees became infected with the coronavirus on the job.  That blog also correctly emphasized that other types of lawsuits may spread from lax pandemic protocols.  This week the California Court of Appeal issued a unanimous three-judge decision outlining a potential path for workers and their families to get around workers-compensation immunity and maintain a possible new strain of civil actions.
Continue Reading The Spread of Employee Lawsuits Related to COVID-19 May Be Widening, But Treatments and Cures May Exist

A ruling today by an appellate court gives ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber roughly two more months to treat their drivers in California as independent contractors.  That ruling follows a recent decision by a trial court in San Francisco that made national news by concluding that those companies had been misclassifying their drivers as non-employees…

A blog we published here on May 28, 2020, warned that whistleblower, disability and leave claims against employers may reach a fever pitch as workplaces begin reopening from the COVID-19 shutdown.  A recent audit by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) confirms that some of those types of claims already are…

As workplaces begin reopening in the coming weeks, attorneys are predicting a rash of lawsuits by employees against their employers related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  It seems clear that workers-compensation preemption may immunize employers from most civil actions alleging that employees became infected with the virus on the job.  However, other types of employee lawsuits…