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Category: Employment Law

  • California Trucking Association Starts New Year with Hope in Face of AB5

    As discussed previously on this blog, California’s AB5 is set to completely rewrite California’s employment law. With the law taking effect with the start of the new year, California’s trucking industry was facing unprecedented change. However, the California Trucking Association (“CTA”) got a key court victory on December 31, to beat out the countdown to midnight. At least…

  • The Uber Business Model Continues to Take Hits Across the Country

    As we’ve covered in detail on this blog, the gig economy, particularly the model followed by companies like Uber, has been struggling to defend the independent contractor model of hiring. This struggle has been particularly obvious in California with the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex ruling on employee classification and the passage of AB 5 that followed. Now, New Jersey…

  • Companies Fighting Back Against AB5

    California’s recent passage of AB 5 has caused waves across the state’s employment market. However, the passage of the bill is clearly not the final word. There are likely legal challenges to come and, beyond this, the companies most directly targeted by the bill are already fighting back. One step in the fight was taken by Uber,…

  • California Expands the Reach of Dynamex ABC Test with AB 5

    As covered on this blog, California has been taking steps to limit the classification of workers as independent contractors. While this has taken on different forms, including the monumental Dynamex decision, the state legislature recently finalized its own measure with the passage of AB 5 to codify the ABC test set forth in Dynamex. The passage of the bill largely…

  • California Continues Push Back Against Gig Economy Employment Practices

    As discussed on this blog, California seems to be taking the lead nationwide in responding to companies like Uber and Lyft and their practices in classifying their workers. Initially, the Dynamex decision had the courts taking the lead, but more recently California’s Bill Assembly Bill 5 seeks to end worker classification practices the State disapproves of. AB 5 looks to…

  • Dynamex Decision Could Rock the Employment Market Even More than Initially Thought

    As discussed on this blog, the Dynamex court decision has evolved since it first came down last year, with its overall impact on the employment market still being determined and understood. The latest in this line could have an extraordinary impact on many industries. In May, the Ninth Circuit determined that the Dynamex decision could be applied retroactively. This…

  • Trucking Companies May See Relaxation of Work Hours Rules

    With some in the trucking industry pushing for changes to the time truck drivers are legally permitted to spend behind the wheel, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently announced propose changes to address this desire. The proposed changes include when a half-hour break is required, changing it to after eight hours of uninterrupted driving time, as opposed…

  • Dynamex Decision Could Rock the Employment Market Even More than Initially Thought

    As discussed on this blog, the Dynamex court decision has evolved since it first came down last year, with its overall impact on the employment market still being determined and understood. The latest in this line could have an extraordinary impact on many industries. In May, the Ninth Circuit determined that the Dynamex decision could be applied retroactively. This…

  • Will Uber and Lyft Change California’s Labor Market?

    The effort to define who is an employee and who is an independent contractor has been an ongoing battle in California, particularly since the Dynamex decision that came down from the California Supreme Court last April. While the full impact of the decision in the courts is still being seen, it is no surprise that the issue…

  • California Rewrites Employment Law

    As covered on this blog, California has been taking steps to address classification of workers as independent contractors. While this has taken on different forms, including the monumental Dynamex decision, the state legislature recently finalized its own measure with the passage of AB5 to codify the ABC test set forth in Dynamex. The passage of the bill largely overhauls employment…

  • Obtaining Employee Background Checks? Get It Right or Get Ready!

    It is entirely common for employers to seek consumer reports and background checks on prospective and current employees. However, the law governing how the employer can go about this can be tricky, and if done wrong leads to a massive legal nightmare. The most recent example of this is Gilberg v. Cal. Check Cashing Stores, LLC.…

  • New Labor Commissioner Decision Demonstrates Continuing Attacks on Independent Contractor Truck Driver Model

    As discussed previously on this blog, recent legal developments have complicated the business plans of trucking companies that use independent contractors as drivers. These have included the Dynamex decision that changed the 30-year-old test of whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, but appears applicable only in certain circumstances and for only certain legal…

  • FMCSA Determines that California Meal and Rest Break Rules are Preempted

    On December 21, 2018, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) granted petitions submitted by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association (SCRA) requesting a determination that the State of California’s Meal and Rest Break rules (MRB Rules) are preempted under 49 U.S.C. 31141 as applied to property-carrying commercial motor…

  • Dynamex ABC Test alters transportation law

    Since April 30, 2018, when the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Dynamex Operations West. v. Superior Court, California motor carriers, as well as many other businesses, have been struggling to deal with the unexpected new “ABC test” for deciding who is an independent contractor and who is an employee. Under its problematic B prong,…

  • Domestic violence is pernicious, even in the workplace

    Company principals in all California industries are daily focused on multiple opportunities and challenges across every conceivable work-related sphere. Here’s an elevated concern: workplace-linked domestic violence. That subject matter is virtually guaranteed to make any business owner or manager wince. Employee violence — both its commission and its sad effects visited upon a victim —…

  • No surprise that litigation centrally marks employment law realm

    We hope that there are several instructive takeaways concerning employment law on our website at the Southern California business law firm of Larson & Gaston. We suspect that one thing central to the realm that likely jumps out from our narrative is employment law’s sheer complexity. The on-the-job interaction between employers and workers encompasses wide-ranging matters.…

  • Clarifying ADA policy, language sought from Supreme Court

    The Americans with Disabilities Act provides that employees with disabling medical conditions can take leave for multi-month periods, even for a year or longer. But wait a minute. Perhaps that’s wrong. As noted in a recent overview of the ADA and its parameters, some analysts say that the federal legislation allows instead for only “brief periods…

  • Can a person be fired because of a disability?

    Employment discrimination is against the law in various circumstances, which is something for both employees and employers to know. For instance, employers aren’t allowed to turn down a potential employee just because he or she has a disability. As long as an individual is capable of performing the job, he or she should receive a…

  • Caution urged in wake of American Airlines ADA settlement

    American Airlines and its largest regional affiliate, Envoy Air, recently agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the airlines of denying accommodations to disabled workers. American and Envoy agreed to pay $9.8 million to resolve claims that they didn’t allow disabled workers to return to their jobs or transfer into open positions when they had restrictions…

  • Human resources help protect against sexual harassment

    Sexual harassment is having a moment in the news right now – and it’s not a good one. While the victims are getting a chance to share their stories without shame, it shows a much larger issue within the workplace in the entertainment industry. This problem doesn’t start and stop with the film and TV…