Restaurant chain Whataburger faces a wrongful death lawsuit following the workplace death of an employee who had complained of chest pain and illness. The suit alleges the company was negligent and seeks more than $1...
Employment Law Letter
The FBI is cracking down on fake companies pretending to employ students under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which grants students F-1 visas to work for companies. The program's intent is to provide U.S...
Outbreaks of influenza and other viruses aren't unusual during the winter months. Once in a while, a particularly virulent viral strain captures the headlines. Such villains include the "Spanish flu" of 1918, SARS in...
It has always been considered rude to ask friends and family about their salaries, but such a question used to be pretty standard fare when an employer interviewed job applicants. In 2019, the New York Labor Law (NYLL)...
In January 2020, the unemployment rate was 3.6% (up slightly from the 50-year low of 3.5% in September 2019). According to WalletHub, Scottsdale was ranked the top community for jobseekers out of 180 cities. Also in the...
California Assembly Bill (AB) 5, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed in late 2019, codified into law the landmark California Supreme Court ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, which...
A nurse who sued her staffing agency for wage and hour violations filed a second lawsuit for the same violations against the hospital to which she was temporarily assigned. The staffing agency intervened in the second...
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeal (whose rulings apply to all California employers) recently faced the novel question of whether California law requires an employer to pay employees for the time it takes to perform a bag...
It's common knowledge that California prohibits noncompetition agreements. Except in the context of some business sales, Business and Professions Code Section 16600 renders void every contract by which anyone is...
A nurse practitioner was investigated three times following anonymous employee hotline complaints. The complaints were found unsubstantiated, and no disciplinary action was taken. The employee resigned after receiving an...
Evaluating sexual harassment claims almost always requires weighing conflicting evidence and making credibility determinations. In such situations, whoever is evaluating the claim—whether a court or an HR manager—must...
Several long-haul truck drivers sued Walmart, alleging they weren't paid for "layover time," certain breaks, and other activities. The company argued it didn't have to pay the truckers for that time, but the U.S. 9th...
Every employer was affected by several decisions made, regulations and orders issued, or laws passed by the three branches of the federal government in 2019. In what follows, we will review the most significant of those...
Many employers fear entrusting an employee to help them build a book of business only to have the employee take the clients to a competitor. To protect themselves, some employers require certain employees to sign...
The New Mexico Court of Appeals recently reviewed two whistleblower jury trials in which the jurors came to very different conclusions. In one, the jury awarded a fired employee from the New Mexico Human Services...