Most Popular

Pension Plans: County Pension Calculation Ruling Is Retroactive; Huge Costs for Employers

Several years ago, the California Supreme Court ruled that under the County Employees’ Retirement Law, counties have to include all types of monetary compensation-such as cash payments for bilingual premium pay, a uniform allowance, or cashed-out accrued vacation-when determining the amount on which an employee’s pension will be based.But some plan members took their counties […]

Meal Periods: Court Sheds Light on Issue of Providing Meal Breaks; Decision May Help Limit Employer Liability

In California, meal periods of no less than 30 minutes must be provided for an employee who works at least five hours, and two 30-minute meal periods are required for work shifts of more than 10 hours. Are employers responsible for making sure employees take their meal breaks? Or can employers just offer the meal […]

Survey Says: Break Claims Down, Misclassifications and Overtime Up

Meal/rest break claims are down significantly, while misclassifications and overtime cases remain strong, says the 7th Annual Litigation Trends Report from international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. Fulbright surveyed senior corporate counsel on their experiences and opinions regarding litigation. The survey had 403 participants, 275 whom were from the U.S. Of the U.S. companies […]

E-Alert Item: New Employer Sued for Unfair Competition Can’t Delay Arbitration Between Employee and Former Employer

After Nancy Duitch left her position as president of One World Networks Integrated Technologies to work at Buckhead Marketing, she entered into arbitration with One World over a series of disputes involving wages owed to her, and unfair competition claims by One World. One World also sued Buckhead Marketing for unfair competition. Buckhead Marketing then […]

Arbitration Agreements: Ninth Circuit Says Compulsory Arbitration of Bias Disputes Is OK; Caution Still Required

Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, decided that federal antibias laws don’t prohibit employers from requiring job applicants and employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. The case then went before a full panel of the Ninth Circuit for review—which has now handed down another strong […]

Health Care Reform: COBRA notices changed; special enrollment opportunity created

Due to some ambiguity in model government language explaining the interplay of the Affordable Care Act with COBRA coverage, the Obama administration has both proposed an update to model COBRA notices and provided a new special enrollment opportunity for COBRA qualified beneficiaries (QBs) to enroll in marketplace coverage. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor […]