When most people think of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. section 12101, they think of accessibility of places - of accessible parking spaces, doorways, and bathrooms. But the latest explosion in ADA litigation is from plaintiffs suing company websites for not containing the coding necessary to work with assistive technology. [...]
A new California law codifies the new independent contractor standard set by the California Supreme Court in Dynamex, with some new exceptions. AB 5 was signed into law on September 18, 2019. Here are its key provisions: "ABC" Test AB 5 enacts as law the “ABC” test for independent contractors set forth in 2018 [...]
Having employees sitting down on the job may no longer be something that employers frown upon, but may in fact be a legal requirement, under California law. A nine-year legal battle over the provision of seating to cashiers ended in Walmart paying out a $65 million dollar settlement in early October 2018. The settlement [...]
Companies seem to be following two paths when it comes to their HR departments and functions. The first path is toward greater outsourcing and automation. The second path is almost the opposite - toward reintegration of HR and management, with managers taking a more active role in employee development. Outsourced HR The first type [...]
What Are They, and When Should You Use Them? The internet is filled with articles claiming that Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) are essentially a joke. That they are designed to “improve” nothing, but are actually meant to signal to everyone involved that this employee is going to be fired. Many commentators, including employers and [...]
On July 22, 2019, the Ninth Circuit vacated its decision in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., 923 F.3d 575 (9th Cir. May 2, 2019). The May Jan-Pro decision had held that the “ABC” test for independent contractor status mandated in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018), applied retroactively. [...]
This May, in Vazquez v. Jan-Pro Franchising International, Inc., 923 F.3d 575 (9th Cir. May 2, 2019), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal held that the California Supreme Court’s landmark independent contractor decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018), applies retroactively. This means that companies who classified their [...]
More Contractor Complications: Duffey v. Tender Heart and In-Home Caregivers California law regarding independent contractors has been evolving rapidly ever since the California Supreme Court reversed decades of precedent last summer in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal. 5th 903 (2018). This caused complications for employers of in-home caregivers. That case further restricted [...]
On February 4, 2019, the California Court of Appeal found that a retailer owed its employees for “on-call shifts” where they never came in to work. Irvine-based retail chain Tilly’s told their employees to call in two hours before a shift to find out if they were needed. The court in Ward v. Tilly’s, [...]
Reprint from Verdict Magazine - written by Cynthia Flynn. Volume II 2018. The California Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court, 4 Cal. 5th 903 (2018) threw out the 30-year old criteria established in S.G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Dept. of Industrial Relations, 48 Cal. 3d 341 (1989) used to [...]
