By:  Chelcey E. Lieber

Let’s say an employee was “completely incapacitated” and needs to take leave due to a back injury. The employee is granted leave, but then terminated while on leave. This sets the perfect stage for a successful interference and retaliation claim, right? The Court in Jaszczyszyn v. Advantage Health Physician Network disagreed (full opinion may be found here: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/12a1152n-06.pdf).Continue Reading Facebook Pictures Enough for the Sixth Circuit to Uphold the Employer’s “Honest Belief” Defense (Sara Jaszczyszyn v. Advantage Health Physician Network)

Countless employers have now been faced with class action litigation, making claims for various deviations from the California Labor Code. Many times employers will face these head on with evidence that the claims made by one former employee are not sufficiently common to a substantial number of other past and current employees to merit class action treatment. Other times, employers argue the plaintiff’s allegations don’t demonstrate a uniform set of facts such that the Court would be able to decide a single legal question that would be applicable to an entire class. However, before dealing with these issues head on, California employers should always look beyond our borders to see if Federal law preempts the California Labor Code.
Continue Reading Make Sure to Review Federal Exemptions When Fighting Class Actions in California: Court Finds Truck Route Drivers’ Break Claims Preempted By FAAAA