Arbitration

In a dramatic expansion of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault & Sexual Harassment Act (“EFAA”), two recent California Court of Appeal decisions have held that plaintiffs can avoid being compelled to arbitration so long as their lawsuit contains at least an allegation of sexual assault or harassment. Background In the wake of the…

In this informative 75-minute webinar (including a question and answer session at the end), Hirschfeld Kraemer Partners Derek Ishikawa, Ferry Lopez and Monte Grix will cover major employment law developments for 2024 and help you get thinking of what your business needs to do to avoid being a target of litigation. The topics to be…

Last week, the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Adolph v. Uber Technologies, Inc. to determine the effect of arbitration agreements on claims for penalties brought by employees under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). Unfortunately, this ruling does not offer employers one clear-cut way to deal with these disputes. For…

In some rare and welcome news for California employers, on February 15, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, after first withdrawing its 2021 opinion in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Bonta that primarily upheld portions of California Assembly Bill 51, published a new 2 to 1 decision that affirmed…

On June 15, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a bellwether decision that has the potential to dramatically decrease employers’ exposure under California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA). PAGA has bedeviled California employers for nearly two decades now, leaving employers responsible for billions of dollars in Labor Code penalties and attorney’s fees. The…

**NEW – Feb. 25, 2022** You can hear a 13-minute Employment Law Alliance podcast about this new legislation, featuring Hirschfeld Kraemer’s Dan Handman, by clicking HERE. What Happened In a bipartisan testament to the sustained momentum of the #MeToo movement, on February 10, 2022, the U.S. Senate joined with the House of Representatives’ earlier passage…

On October 10, 2019, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 51, prohibiting employers from requiring, as a condition of employment, continued employment, or the receipt of any employment-related benefit, that any applicant for employment or employee waive “any right, forum, or procedure” for a violation of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act or the Labor…

On December 18, 2019, Hirschfeld Kraemer attorneys Kirstin Muller, Alison Hamer, Benjamin Treger, and China Westfall presented a one-hour webinar, “California Employment Laws 2020: Your Survival Guide.” The webinar provided a comprehensive overview of what employers need to know in order to stay in compliance in 2020. 2019 was a remarkable year in California employment law. Sacramento lawmakers…

2019 California Legislative Update For Employers It’s been a busy session for the California Legislature, passing multiple employment-related bills that Governor Newsom has signed or that are awaiting his signature. The Governor has until October 13 to sign the pending bills. Below is a topline summary of important bills, some of which will or could…

On April 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court in Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela issued the latest in what has become a burgeoning series of impactful rulings related to arbitration agreements in the employment realm: Epic Systems v. Lewis (May 21, 2018) – upholding the enforceability of class action waivers in arbitration agreements (which we…