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Richey v. Autonation, Inc. (SC S207536 1/29/15) Arbitration/Honest Belief Defense An employer terminated an employee who was absent on approved medical leave, but engaged in outside employment in violation of company policy.  After an 11-day arbitration hearing, the arbitrator relied on the federal “honest belief” defense and rejected the employee’s claim that the employer violated the […]

Security Guards – Mendiola v. CPS Security Solutions, Inc. (California Supreme Court, January 8, 2015) 2015 DJDAR 277. The California Supreme Court held security guards were owed regular and overtime pay for all time required to be at the worksite, including sleeping time. The wage order language interpreted does not apply to the public housekeeping industry or […]

A California Court of Appeal recently held that, under California Labor Code § 2802, employees who must use personal cell phones for work are entitled to reimbursement for “some reasonable percentage” of the personal cell phone bill.  The holding states the current law in California that employees who use their personal cell phones for work are […]

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) broadly protects employees that are disabled from discrimination in the workplace. The provision of the California statute that protects disabled persons, prohibits employment discrimination not only based on the employee being actually disabled, but also when the employee is “regarded as” disabled. (Gelfo v. Lockheed Martin Corp. (2006) […]

In California employers must give workers time off to eat meals at work. The law on meal breaks illuminated by a California Supreme Court’s case Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (2012) 53 Cal.4th 1004. Before Brinker, courts were divided over (1) whether an employer must merely make meal breaks available, or (2) whether the employer must actually […]

Under California law, an employer may require pre-employment drug tests and take illegal drug use into consideration when making employment decisions. Ross v. RagingWire Telecommunications, Inc. (2008) 42 Cal.4th 920, 924. This rule of law also applies even in the case where an employee applicant is using medical marijuana pursuant to their physician’s recommendation. In Ross, the Plaintiff, […]

Under California law, an employer may require a medical or psychological examination of an employee if the examination is “job related and consistent with business necessity.” (Gov. Code, § 12940, subd. (f)(2).)  Further, an employer also “may make disability-related inquiries, including fitness for duty exams, and require medical examinations of employees that are both job-related and […]

The Industrial Welfare Commission (“IWC”) of the State of California has issued various orders regulating the wages, hours, and working conditions for employees in all types of industries. According to the IWC orders, employers are required to provide their employees with a 30 minute unpaid meal period for every fifth hour of work. Therefore, an […]

In a claim for retaliation, an employee must make three showings to prove his or her prima facie case of retaliation. First the employee must show that he/she engaged in a protected activity. Second, the employer subjected him/her to an adverse employment action. Third, a causal link existed between the protected activity and the adverse […]

Contrary to what you may think, same gender sexual harassment may be the basis for a sexual harassment claim. In other words, sexual harassment may exist even in the case where a male employee is being harassed by his male colleagues. In Mogilefsky v. Superior Court (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 1409, 1415, the Court held that a male […]