For parties facing class action lawsuits, where the class seeks to recover for economic losses, there may still be opportunities for insurance coverage. Thus, where economic losses arise out of the purchase of products that have the potential for causing bodily injury, insurance coverage, at least for purposes of the duty to defend, may well be available.

Two fairly recent cases take up this scenario and both affirm coverage, at least for purposes of the duty to defend. Coverage was affirmed even though the relief sought in the class action complaints was solely for damages occasioned ...

Many California state statutes are applied based on the number of persons employed by an employer employee count.  Unfortunately, there are a number of these laws, including statutes establishing employee leaves of absence requirements, that do not specify which employees must be counted to determine if the law applies to a particular employer.  A recent state guidance regarding the 2023 state pay transparency statute, which requires the inclusion of a pay scale in job postings by employers with at least 15 employees, but which law does not specify who must be included in the count ...

Commencing on June 1, 2024, Senate Bill 525 will raise the minimum wage for covered health care workers at covered health care facilities in California. A “covered health care facility” as further defined by various statutes, is:  a facility or other work site that is part of an integrated health care delivery system; a licensed general acute care hospital; a licensed acute psychiatric hospital; a special hospital; a licensed skilled nursing facility, if owned, operated, or controlled by a hospital or integrated health care delivery system; a patient’s home when health care ...

Effective January 1, 2024, California’s Assembly Bill 647 will expand recall rights for grocery workers when there is a change of control in a grocery establishment.  Prior to AB 647, existing law required an incumbent grocery employer to provide, within 15 days of execution of a transfer document, a list of eligible grocery workers. Successor grocery employers were then required to maintain a preferential hiring list of these eligible grocery workers and hire from that list for 90 days. This law did not apply to grocery stores that had ceased operations for 6 months or more before the ...

Q: I am a defendant in a receivership, where the receiver has moved to sell my property. If the court approves the sale,
I want to appeal. My attorney says an order approving the sale cannot be directly appealed and I will have to wait until the end of the case, which could be years from now. Is this correct?

A: It depends on whether your case is in federal or state court. In the Fifth Circuit case SEC v. Barton, 2023 WL 4060191, the defendant appealed the district court’s order approving the receiver’s sale of the defendant’s home, for the purpose of recouping funds for defrauded ...

As reported here, California recently took steps to provide employers additional tools to combat workplace violence, including requiring a written workplace violence prevention plan, by enacting Senate Bill 553.  Effective January 1, 2025, Senate Bill 428 makes further changes to existing procedures for workplace violence restraining orders, and creates limitations to prevent employers from using such orders to restrict labor-related speech and activities. These changes are codified as section 527.8 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Employers in California may ask for a court ...

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, California enacted a temporary right to recall for hospitality employees, codified as Labor Code section 2810.8 (see our related post describing the law here). This law covers laid-off employees who were employed for the 6 or more months preceding January 1, 2020, and whose layoff was due to a reason related to the COVID-10 pandemic. The law was scheduled to expire on December 31, 2024.

Covered employers include hotels with fifty or more guest rooms, airport hospitality operations and service providers, certain event centers, and ...

California’s COVID-19 notice requirements under California Labor Code § 6409.6, requiring employer notice to employees of COVID-19 exposures in the workplace, will expire at the end of 2023.

However, although these state notice requirements will expire, under Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 non-emergency regulations, employers must still notify employees and independent contractors who had a close contact with a COVID-19 case, as well as any employer with an employee who had a close contact, as soon as possible.  Local health department requirements may also apply.

The end of 2023 ...

The California Office of Administrative Law approved the California Civil Rights Council’s proposed amendment to the California Fair Chance Act, effective October 1, 2023. In addition to providing employers with further guidance on how to handle job applicants with a criminal history, the amendment also expands which employers and job applicants fall under the scope of the FCA.

Originally enacted in 2018, the FCA aims to remove unnecessary difficulties for individuals with criminal backgrounds to find employment. Specifically, the FCA prohibits an employer with five or more ...

Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employees have “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.”  In Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) adopted a new, stricter standard for assessing workplace policies for the purpose of protecting these employee rights.  Under the new standard, a work rule is ...