Since 2000 there has been a proliferation of class action lawsuits against employers. Many of these class actions are based on “misclassification” issues, such as misclassification of independent contractors and misclassification of exempt employees (for overtime and meal/rest period purposes). Many other class actions are based on “wage and hour” violations, e.g. California Labor Code violations, including for overtime, rest/meal periods, failure to provide accurate itemized wage statements, failure to indemnify employee expenses under Labor Code section 2802 and waiting time penalties under Labor Code section 203, among others. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid by employers to employees (and the attorneys who represent them) and to their own legal defense teams in fighting these class action wage and hour lawsuits.
An “off the clock” claim occurs when the employee claims more time worked that what appears on their daily time record. The time records show one thing but the employee claims they worked more hours. Sometimes those “off the clock” hours result in an overtime claim.
Continue Reading »The California Supreme Court has ruled California employers may avoid employee class action lawsuits through binding arbitration. (Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC, 6/23/2014). This is clearly a big win for all employers, large and small.
Continue Reading »Recent rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States have called into question key California arbitration decisions. US Supreme Court decisions such as Preston v. Ferrer (2008), Stolt-Nielsen v. AnimalFeeds International Corp. (2010), AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011), and American Express v. Italian Colors Rest. (2013) have made clear federal law under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) trumps …
Continue Reading »We recently posted on class arbitration rules for business. Just 10 days later, the US Supreme Court has issued another ruling enforcing class arbitration waivers in binding arbitration agreements.
The case is American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant (6/20/2013). It says a large charge card company can require its small business merchant customer to arbitrate on a one-on-one basis only, not …
In a trio of cases since 2010, the US Supreme Court has telegraphed “best practices” for avoiding class arbitrations for consumer and employee claims.
Best Practices To Avoid Class Actions And Class-Wide Arbitration
First the “best practices.” If you are a businesses that wants to arbitrate disputes but wants to prevent class wide arbitration pay attention. The US Supreme Court appears to …
If your business has been sued you want the case to be over as soon as possible with the least overall cost. This is particularly true if it is a class, collective or other representative action. The U.S. Supreme Court in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, 133 S.Ct. 1523 (4/16/2013) underscored a strategy to do just that in collective actions …
Continue Reading »“Class action” lawsuits based on labor law violations threaten large and small businesses throughout California. Wage and hour laws are designed to protect laborers against unfair practices by employers and are some of the oldest labor laws in the nation. But today, class-action lawsuits allow a single “representative” plaintiff and their attorney to prove his or her case against an …
Continue Reading »What would you do if your business was handed a wage and hour class action Summons & Complaint requiring a response within 30 days and demanding $1.9M in damages, the alternative being a default judgment being taken against your business?
You continue reading and realize this isn’t about just one employee. It’s been brought by one …
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