Drug Testing in the California Workplace

If you are considering requiring your employees or prospective employees to submit to workplace drug and alcohol testing, you would be well advised to know how far your rights as an employer extend under both federal and California law. Drug testing in California At the state level, the California Constitution guarantees a right to privacy…

CA Appeals Court Affirms That Workers’ Comp Utilization Reviews Are Not Protected Activity Under State’s Anti-SLAPP Law

Los Angeles, CA (February 17, 2015)—A California Appellate Court has overturned the trial court decision in Electronic Waveform Lab v. EK Health Services, which held that State Fund’s utilization review process was “protected activity” under the California’s anti-SLAPP law. Electronic Waveform Lab is represented by Nicholas Roxborough and Joseph Gjonola of the Los Angeles based…

Arbitration Clauses Continue to Preempt Court Proceedings

In the recent case of McGill vs. Citibank, when a dispute arose between a consumer and her credit card company regarding the application of certain credits on her charge account, the Plaintiff, Sharon McGill, sued Citibank under the theory of unfair competition and false advertising. She also sought an injunction to compel Citibank to cease from engaging in the conduct of which she complained.Citibank wanted to arbitrate the claim, which of course is a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes place outside of the courtroom setting. Arbitration can be binding (meaning the decision is

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Navigating California’s Complex Paid Sick Leave Law

Your new employee starts work on September 1, 2015 (yes, a few months down the road, but let’s just imagine…). On December 1, 2015, they request several days paid sick leave. Your first reaction may be to say “not yet” but under a new law known as the Healthy Families Act of 2014 (which goes into effect July 15, 2015), you will be required to provide paid sick leave to certain California employees who have worked 30 days. In other words, once your employee works 30 days, as an employer, you are required to provide sick time of up to 3 days. Of course, an employer can

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A Breakdown of Insurance Bad Faith

Businesses seeking insurance coverage most often have the short end of the stick when it comes to bargaining power in the negotiation of an insurance policy. Indeed, there is often no room for negotiation. Businesses need various types of insurance coverage to exist and operate and the insurance companies, with billions of dollars in their corporate pockets, largely dictate the terms of the policies and contracts that govern the necessary insurance coverage. Over the years, this disparate bargaining power led to insurance companies engaging in dilatory tactics, or “bad faith” cond

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