Professional football players failed to allege a viable negligence claim against the NFL on a theory of negligence per se in distributing prescription pain killers and other drugs to enable injured players to continue competing. The complaint did not allege facts showing that the NFL directly or indirectly supplied players with drugs or coordinated activities of clubs to do so,… Read More
Under the continuing violations doctrine, an employer is liable for actions that took place outside the limitations period if these actions are sufficiently linked to unlawful conduct that occurred within the limitations period. Here, Blue Fountain subjected the plaintiff to a continuous course of sexual harassment for more than a decade. When plaintiff finally quit or was terminated, she sued. … Read More
When Judd, an actress, refused Harvey Weinstein's sexual advances, he bad-mouthed her to the producers of Lord of the Rings, and as a result, she was not hired for that blockbuster film. Judd stated a viable claim against Weinstein for sexual harassment in violation of Civ. Code 51.9. The section applies when the parties have one of several relationships specified… Read More
In some respects, the trial court's specification of reasons for granting a new trial, subject to a remittitur, for excessive damages was adequate. For example, the trial court found that the jury had awarded duplicative damages for two different causes of action. However, the appellate court held the reason was not supported by the record which showed there was substantial… Read More
In another wrongful termination and defamation case, this decision follows Roby v. McKesson Corp. (2009) 47 Cal.4th 686, in holding that a one-to-one ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages is the constitutional limit. Though emotional distress counts as physical injury for purposes of weighing reprehensibility, still plaintiff's emotional distress was not as severe as Roby's. Also, as in Roby,… Read More
Santa Clara University is not a state actor and so cannot be sued for violation of 42 USC 1983 in firing one of its professors. It did not become a state actor merely because it isrequired by generally applicable civil rights laws to ameliorate sex or other forms of discrimination. Nor does its receipt of federal and state funds conditioned… Read More
An employee cannot be compelled to arbitrate a PAGA claim even though he signed an arbitration agreement with his employer. The PAGA claim is a suit by the state which did not agree to arbitrate its claim. Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (2018) 138 S.Ct. 1612 does not call this rule into question. Read More
As part of a settlement of a prior wage and hour lawsuit, employee signed an arbitration agreement with employer. Four years later, plaintiff brought this PAGA claim against employer. This decision affirms an order denying the employer's motion to compel arbitration. The State of California is the real party in interest in a PAGA action. It did not sign the… Read More
An employer's arbitration agreement said that the employer and employee agreed to arbitrate all claims arising from the employment relationship, including class action claims and in the next sentence stated that the employee waived the right to participate in any class action lawsuit. This decision holds that the agreement unambiguously required the parties to submit class action claims to arbitration. … Read More
Defendant was a signatory as an employer to a collective bargaining agreement with the union which supplied lighting technicians for the TV commercials that defendant produced or that were produced by non-signatory production companies that rented defendant's services and its signatory status to hire the technicians. This decision reverses a summary judgment in defendant's favor on wage claims by technicians… Read More
Applying Singapore law in accordance with a stock purchase agreement's choice of law clause, this decision holds that the employer did not breach that agreement when it bought back the employee's stock after having fired him. The agreement provided for an employer buy back at market value of the stock if the employee left employment voluntarily or involuntarily for any… Read More
The trial court erred in compelling arbitration of plaintiff's individual wage and hour claims while retaining jurisdiction over his PAGA claims. The employer's arbitration clause contained a waiver of "representative" claims--a word broad enough to encompass PAGA claims. Since PAGA claims cannot be waived, the purported waiver was invalid. But the arbitration clause also said that the waiver provision was… Read More
Though not called "ministers" and though lacking as rigorous a religious education, teachers at a Catholic or other religious school, whose duties include educating students in the tenets of their religious faith fall within the "ministerial exception," based on the First Amendment, which prevents courts from adjudicating wrongful termination or employment discrimination claims brought by employees of religious institutions whose… Read More
Summary judgment was properly entered for the employer in this wage and hour case. The employer's expert showed that the employer's time rounding of clock in and out times to the nearest 15 minutes was facially neutral and neutral in practice as well. Also, the employer disproved the employee's claim that he was denied meal and rest breaks. Each weekly… Read More
Labor Code 226 applies to wage statements provided by an employer if the employee’s principal place of work is in California. This test is satisfied if the employee works a majority of the time in California or, for interstate transportation workers whose work is not primarily performed in any single state, if the worker has his or her base of… Read More
An employer must provide wage statements complying with Labor Code section 226 when an employee’s principal place of work is in California, which ordinarily means the employee works a majority of the time in California. For interstate transportation workers and others who do not spend a majority of their working time in any one state, this test is satisfied when… Read More
State law limits on wage borrowing permit compensation schemes that promise to compensate all hours worked at a level at or above the minimum wage, even if particular components of those schemes fail to attribute to each and every compensable hour a specific amount equal to or greater than the minimum wage. The no-borrowing principle--that an employer cannot "borrow" compensation… Read More
Defendant required its service technicians to drive their personal vehicles to their first off-site service call of the day and from the last service call of the day. Plaintiff claimed that defendant was required to pay the technicians minimum wages for the time so spent and to reimburse them for the expense of driving to and from the first and… Read More
Under Wage Order 16, an employer must pay a worker at least the minimum wage for mandated travel time between the place where the employer first exerts control over the employee and the place where the employee performs work. Here, the employee was entitled to minimum wage for all time spent from the check in point, waiting for and then… Read More
Labor Code sections 558 and 1197.1, allow the Labor Commissioner to sue for set civil penalties in addition to an amount sufficient to recover underpaid wages if an employer fails to pay overtime wages or minimum wages as required by California law. This decision holds that in a PAGA suit, the employee plaintiff may recover only the set civil penalty… Read More
