Co-authored by Monica Rodriguez and Justin Curley

Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court holds that employers must promptly pay final wages owed to employees who quit, including those who retire, or risk paying steep statutory penalties under California Labor Code section 203.

What Were the Plaintiff’s Claims?

Janis McLean worked as deputy attorney general for the California Department of
Continue Reading Prompt Payment Required – Doesn’t Matter If Fired, Retired, Or Resigned

Authored by Simon L. Yang

Seyfarth Synopsis: PAGA was amended earlier this week, in connection with the California legislature’s approval of the state’s annual budget. The legislation did not implement any of the more substantive changes that Governor Brown’s proposed budget had previously suggested—e.g., requiring PAGA plaintiffs to provide additional information when submitting pre-filing written notice to the LWDA or
Continue Reading PAGA Amendments Address Legislature’s Concerns, Not Employers’ Concerns

Authored by Simon L. Yang

When PAGA—California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004—was first enacted, we knew it would take years to see how it would be applied. Twelve years (and over $30 million in penalties paid to the state) later, we thought we’d have more answers. But many California employers, attorneys, and judges, now all too familiar
Continue Reading PAGA 101: Tired of Stupid Answers? Time to Ask the Stupid Questions

Authored by Hillary J. Massey

Employers have a new tool for opposing conditional and class certification of overtime claims by financial advisors and other exempt employees—last week, a judge in the District of New Jersey denied conditional and class certification of such claims because the plaintiffs failed to show that common issues predominated. The court, pointing to other decisions denying
Continue Reading Advising On Their Own: Financial Advisors’ Class Claims Defeated

Authored by Jeffrey A. Berman, Julie G. Yap, and Michael Afar

Last week, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling on a California Wage Order requirement that employers provide “suitable seats” for employees when the “nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.” The consolidated decision says employers have to provide seating where employee tasks
Continue Reading Better Sit Down for This… or Stand and Rejoice? California Supreme Court Clarifies “Suitable Seating” Rules

Authored by Michael Kopp

Piece-rate employers in California have faced a surge of class action lawsuits in recent years seeking substantial sums for the failure to separately pay for rest breaks and nonproductive time. On January 1, 2016, California Labor Code section 226.2 went into effect, requiring employers to separately compensate piece-rate employees for rest break and nonproductive time
Continue Reading Gimme Shelter: A Safe Harbor Deadline Looms for California Piece-Rate Employers

Authored by Michael A. Wahlander and John R. Giovannone

With March Madness in full swing, we interrupt your crumbling tournament brackets to ensure you’re aware of a truly maddening development. California law now makes individuals potentially liable for employer violations of many often-convoluted wage and hour rules.

That’s right—individuals, not just companies, may be liable for wage and
Continue Reading Who Me? Yes, YOU: Personal Liability for Wage Hour Violations

We are thrilled to announce a special blog series, coming soon to this very blog! This series will focus on wage & hour issues specific to the Golden State and will highlight the unique problems raised by California labor laws and litigating California wage & hour cases. As many of our readers are all too well aware, California’s wage & 
Continue Reading Coming Soon to the Blog: The California Wage & Hour Series

Authored by Patrick Bannon and Anne Bider

Independent contractor misclassification claims have become an epidemic — nationally and especially in Massachusetts.  Under most tests for independent contractor status, whether an individual’s services are within the usual course of the business of the company for which they are performed is an important factor.  Under Massachusetts’ Independent Contractor Statute it is an
Continue Reading Signs of (American United) Life for Independent Contractor Status in Massachusetts

Authored by Alex Passantino

‘Twas the week before Christmas, 2-0-1-5
When the poetry elves on the blog came alive.
Crafting their rhymes with a purpose so clear:
Presenting the wage-hour gems of the year.

In January, for new regs in this year our breath bated.
Then for six painful months, we speculated and waited.
And just as
Continue Reading I’m Dreaming of a White Collar: 2015 Year in Review