California employers hoped for significant changes following Governor Brown’s budget proposal that called for the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) to have more oversight of claims made under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). The budget proposal noted that the departments tasked with investigation and enforcement of the Labor Code has never
Warning! Know Your Payroll Service Contract!
Many – maybe even most – contracts issued by major payroll processing services contain traps for the unwary. Many employers I speak with turn over all payroll processing responsibilities, including issuance of accurate checks and wage statements and record storage, to their payroll processing service.
This may be a big mistake.
When faced with an
California Governor Signs A Bevy Of Employment Laws, Vetoes A Few Others
By: Vida L. Thomas
The 2014/2015 California legislative session may go down as one of the most productive in the state’s history, in terms of legislation passed and signed into law. According to the Associated Press, Governor Brown signed 808 bills, and vetoed 133 others. Lest employers worry that they were left out of the
Arbitration Agreements Can Backfire on Employers
It is no secret that arbitration agreements may greatly reduce the risks that many employers face in disputes with employees. For example, when used correctly, such agreements can curb exposure to class actions by forcing employees to arbitrate disputes on an individual basis instead of a class basis. See, e.g., Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 59 Cal.4th 348 (2014).
However, when such an agreement either contains certain language or fails to include other language, it may result in a class action or a representative action being litigated in front of an arbitrator instead of a court. This can be problematic for many reasons, not the least of which is that an arbitrator’s hourly charges typically are paid by the employer – and those fees can add up quickly in a complicated matter involving numerous parties.
Thus, instead of decreasing the cost of defending a class action or a representative action, a poorly drafted arbitration agreement could result in greatly escalating such costs. A pair of recent decisions from the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District (in San Diego) underscore the need for employers to use great care in drafting such agreements to avoid such outcomes.
Continue Reading Arbitration Agreements Can Backfire on Employers
U.S. Supreme Court Declines Review of California’s Iskanian Decision – California State and Federal Courts Remain Divided on PAGA Waivers
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review California high court’s landmark decision in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, which held that arbitration agreements with mandatory class waivers are generally enforceable, but carved out an exception for the state’s Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) claims.
As discussed in our prior blog post, The