Q: I am a receiver, but not an attorney. During the receivership some legal matters came up and I used my in-house counsel and an outside attorney to handle the matters. My order of appointment states I can hire attorneys, but does not specifically state who. I have filed my final account and report and the defendant is objecting, stating my attorneys are not entitled to be paid because there was no court order specifically authorizing their employment. Was that necessary?

A: Yes. California Rules of Court, Rule 3.1180 states: “A receiver must not employ an attorney without the approval ...

A recent California Court of Appeal ruling significantly expands the conditions under which the reporting time pay rule in California will apply. Skylar Ward v. Tilly’s, Inc. involved retail clothing store workers who were assigned on-call shifts, but did not know if they must report to work for each shift until they made a required call to the employer two (2) hours in advance of the shift.

Under all California Wage Orders, including Wage Order No. 7 that applies to retail workers, reporting time pay must be paid for each workday an employee is required to report for work and does ...

Senate Bill 1343, which became effective on January 1, 2019, requires that every California employer with at least five employees or independent contractors provide two hours of interactive harassment and abusive conduct prevention training for their managers and supervisors, and conduct this training thereafter every two years and within six months of a person’s placement into a supervisory or management position. SB 1343 also requires that these employers provide interactive harassment training to their non-supervisory employees of at least one hour, and thereafter ...

Last year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements are enforceable.  But, the ruling did not address an agreement that is silent or ambiguous regarding the intent to proceed as a class.

This issue was recently resolved by Lamps Plus v. Varela, in which the United States Supreme Court held that under the Federal Arbitration Act, a court may not compel class arbitration unless the parties have expressed their clear consent.

This case involved an arbitration clause that was ambiguous regarding the parties’ intent to ...

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a proposal to increase the minimum salary required to qualify as exempt from overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new rule would apply to the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. Specifically, the proposed increase would raise the minimum annual salary required for exempt status from $23,360 to $35,308, and increase the weekly salary rate from $455 to $679.  Employers would be permitted to include “nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments” for up to 10% of the ...

As you know by now, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) is California’s groundbreaking legislation that grants California residents unprecedented rights and protections regarding the collection and use of their personal information. While the breadth and scope of the CCPA is readily transparent, California’s Attorney General (“AG”) is still in the process of adopting regulations to help implement the act. The AG is currently accepting comments in a series of public forums that began in January, and the California Department of Justice recently ...

A prior Ask the Receiver discussed Sino Clean Energy Inc. by and through Baowen Ren v. Seiden, 565 B.R. 677 (Nev. 2017), where a  district court’s affirmed of a bankruptcy court’s order dismissing a bankruptcy case. A state court receiver for a corporation removed the corporation’s board of directors and replaced them. The unhappy, removed, board members filed a bankruptcy petition for the corporation. The district court held state law determines who is authorized to file bankruptcy for a corporation. It rejected the petitioner’s argument that states cannot ...

The 2019 mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes have increased from last year, or remained unchanged. Specifically, as of January 1, 2019, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups, or panel trucks) are:

• 58 cents per mile for business miles driven, up three and one-half cents from 2018;
• 20 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, up two cents from 2018; and
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.

The IRS standard mileage rate for ...

On January 1, 2019, the state minimum wage increased to $12.00 per hour for employers with at least 26 employees, and $11.00 per hour for smaller employers.  The state minimum wage governs the exempt employee threshold salary, which has increased accordingly.  The new minimum salary for employees exempt from overtime is $49,920 annually for employers with at least 26 employees, and $45,760 annually for employers with fewer than 26 employees.

Further, a number of California municipalities will raise their minimum wage rates on July 1, 2019.  Employers should take care to note these ...

Effective January 1, 2019, the California Department of Industrial Relations issued a new compensation threshold for exempt computer software employees, reflecting an increase of 4.2% from last year.

To qualify for the overtime exemption, computer software employees must be paid a salary of at least $94,603.25 annually ($7,883.62 monthly), or an hourly wage of at least $45.41.  In addition, a computer software employee must also meet the duties test set forth in California Labor Code Section 515.5, which are also included in all Wage Orders except Orders 14 and 16.

More ...