The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to shape our legal landscape. A recent ruling in California might have a significant impact on how employers manage furloughs. By: Muhammed T. Hussain Key Takeaways from Hartstein v. Hyatt Corp. The Situation: Employees were furloughed in March 2020 and terminated in June 2020. They argued that Hyatt…
As most employers in California are aware, in June of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (“Viking River”) that Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) actions could be split into individual and non-individual claims and the individual claims could be subject to arbitration. The Court expressed its view that…
Author: Joseph C. Gjonola Recently, the California Supreme Court accepted a Petition for Review filed by RPNA on behalf of our extraordinary client SANTA YNEZ BAND OF CHUMASH MISSION INDIANS, in their lawsuit against Lexington Insurance Company for business injury coverage triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of extensive documentary and expert…
Author: Burton E. Falk Last week the California Supreme Court made a pivotal ruling that could have significant implications for your responsibilities as employers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Court clarified that employers do not owe a tort-based duty to non-employees to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to family members under workers’ compensation laws.…
By Trevor Witt An upcoming ballot measure could significantly affect your business and provide some much needed relief from costly and frivolous lawsuits for employers. The November 2024 ballot will contain a measure titled “Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act,” which proposes to repeal the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) in California. PAGA was initially…
By Burton E. Falk In the workers’ comp world, applicants and defense attorneys try to reject med-legal reports and disqualify the medical evaluators, including QMEs and AMEs when they don’t like a doctor’s opinion. There are techniques to avoid disqualification that will help preserve your reputation and ensure that you get paid for your med-legal…
What’s new? The new law covers legal entities of a certain size (see below) that do business in California and collect personal information of consumers. A consumer is defined as a California resident and therefore includes employees. · Businesses must provide a “notice at collection”. At the time of collecting the personal…
California passed another round of COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave. The new sick leave requirements, which are very similar to the benefits that expired in September 2021, go into effect on February 19th and apply retroactively to January 1, 2022. The benefits will continue to be available to employees up to September 30, 2022. The…
Many employers, with 100 or more employees, were preparing to implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination or testing policy consistent with the Biden administration’s proposed rule. The proposed regulation was to be enforced by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”). However, employers received relief from the administrative burden of enforcing the rule. On January 13,…
On September 22, 2021, Governor Newsom signed AB 701 into law. Aimed at the use of quotas in distribution centers, AB 701 will go into effect on January 1, 2022. The new law, which was originally drafted to curtail the practices of Amazon, may potentially apply to many employers across a range of industries involved with…