In 2009, a tragic accident occurred at a manufacturing plant in Orange County when a water heater exploded and killed two employees. The incident was duly investigated by Cal OSHA, and criminal charges were eventually brought against two individuals. Then the Orange County District Attorney decided to seek huge civil penalties against the employer under California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”). The trial judge was prepared to allow the case to go forward, but the Court …

In January of last year, we noted that the U.S. Supreme Court was poised to end compulsory union dues for California teachers and other public employees.  Then in February of last year, Justice Antonin Scalia died.  In March of last year, we blogged that the unions had breathed a big sigh of relief when the Supreme Court then split 4-4 in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, thus upholding the Ninth Circuit ruling denying…

  The California Legislature has completed its work for this session, and three bills concerning employment issues survived the process and have been sent to Governor Brown for his consideration and possible signature. All three of these prospective laws have been labeled “job killers” by the California Chamber of Commerce which is lobbying heavily against the bills. Opposing the Chamber on these issues are the state’s unions and the organized plaintiffs’ bar.AB 1209 would…

The California Supreme Court has once again deviated from what many view as clear precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the enforcement of arbitration agreements. Last week, the California court decided McGill v. Citibank, N.A., holding that state “public policy” precludes the enforcement of arbitration agreements where a class sues for “public injunctive relief” under Business and Professions Code § 17200, California’s much abused “unfair competition” statute. This decision comes on the heels…

Last Friday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear cases from the 9th,  7th, and 5th Circuits in which the courts are split on the issue whether class action waivers in employee arbitration agreements violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act by inhibiting employees’ rights to engage in “concerted activity”.  The NLRB has been promoting this novel theory for the past few years, under which the arbitration agreement can be invalidated notwithstanding the…

With the same clarity as the Sacramento River delta at high tide, the California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that employers must provide suitable seating for all employees in California when it is “reasonable” to do so. In Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. (pdf),*  the Court was called upon to interpret language in the Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders saying that: “working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the…

Public employee unions dodged a bulldozer yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it had deadlocked 4 to 4 in Freidrichs v. California Teachers Ass’n, the case challenging the constitutionality of compulsory union dues for public employees. On January 12, we wrote that the Supreme Court was poised to end compulsory dues for California teachers, reversing the 9th Circuit decision in Freidrichs and overturning 40 years of the Court’s own precedent. That, of course,…