Q: I was appointed receiver over a manufacturing facility. I operated it for a short time and then obtained court authority to sell it. I netted $1.4 million from the sale. The landlord agreed I could pay it the rent I owed from the net proceeds and is owed $600,000. All good, except I just learned the IRS is owed $1 million. I know receivers can incur personal liability if they pay creditors ahead of owed taxes. Do I have to pay the IRS ahead of my cooperative landlord?

A: No. What is known as the Federal Priority Act (31 U.S.C. §3713) mandates that representatives of insolvent estates, including ...

Despite its best efforts, the California Legislature has been unable to substantially curtail the popularity of employment arbitrations in California.  The hostility to employment arbitration remains evident, however, among the California courts.  This is illustrated by the recent decision of the California Court of Appeals in Vazquez v. SaniSure, Inc.

In Vazquez, an employee was initially hired by an employer for almost two years between 2019 and 2021.  During this period of employment, she was required to sign a binding arbitration agreement. The agreement provided that ...

The facts are frequently the same. A company that has retained the services of a vendor receives an authentic-looking email from the vendor’s CFO which advises that the vendor has changed its bank account or method of payment. Believing that the email is genuine, the company wires funds as directed by the vendor’s CFO. It then turns out that a hacker has impersonated the vendor’s CFO and the company’s payment has gone to an overseas account controlled by the vendor.

In due course, the vendor sues the company demanding payment. The question then arises whether the company’s ...

Despite the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issuing a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, last year, many employers continue to use an outdated version of the form. The current version of Form I-9 can be found here.  

Employers must use the revised Form I-9 for all new hires, reverifications and rehires. The changes made to the I-9 form include the reduction of length to one page, more clear instructions, and guidance on acceptable receipts and the auto-extension of some documents, as found on the Lists of Acceptable Documents.

An employer that used an ...

Most private employers with at least 100 employees and federal contractors with at least 50 employees are aware of federal job pay data reporting requirements. Specifically, these employers are required to provide to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) an EEO-1 Component 1 report that provides employee data from the prior year by employee job category, as well as sex and race/ethnicity. However, these employers may not be aware that California has additional pay data annual reporting requirements which exceed those set forth in the EEO-1 Component 1 ...

On March 15, 2024, the newly appointed Fast Food Council (the “Council”) held its first public meeting in the State Building in Oakland.

The Council was created as part of Assembly Bill 1228, the FAST Recovery Act. The Council has the power to establish minimum standards for fast food workers, including standards for working hours, working conditions, and health and safety.

The Council is comprised of eleven members, nine voting members and two non-voting members. The members are: Nick Hardeman (Chair), Michaela Mendelsohn, Anneisha Williams, Joe Johal, SG Ellison, Richard ...