Wage and Hour

Visiting Angels Lawsuit

Visiting Angels Lawsuit Rukin Hyland & Riggin is currently investigating potential employment violations by Home Care company Visiting Angels. Over the last few years, multiple home care, hospice care, and senior care corporations have come under the spotlight for abusing home how employees are classified and paid. California labor and employment laws are put in place to protect

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New Federal Overtime Rule Faces Roadblocks

The holiday season is when many employers announce raises, bonuses, and other increases in compensation. This holiday season, millions of workers were going to become newly eligible for overtime under the Depart of Labor’s new overtime rule. However, a Texas federal judge recently blocked the new federal overtime rule from going into effect. Now, it is uncertain

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Will the New Federal Overtime Regulations Put More Money in Your Pocket?

A change to the federal overtime regulations that will come into play at the end of 2016 will likely have a significant impact on workers. The U.S. Department of Labor recently promulgated new overtime regulations which increase the national overtime salary threshold, thereby dramatically increasing the number of workers eligible for overtime. While hourly-paid workers

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New California Law Calls for Equal Pay for Women: Understanding Your Rights

From Robin Wright making news for demanding the same pay as her ‘House of Cards’ co-star Kevin Spacey to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team filing an EEOC charge for pay discrimination, equal pay is having a moment–and California’s equal pay laws are no exception. On January 1, 2016, California’s Fair Pay Act took effect to strengthen the

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I was 1099’d: Employer Liability for Independent Contractors in the Service Sector

The Problem With Misclassifying Independent Contractors As the economy improves, there has been an increased focus on the problem of independent contractor misclassification in the service sector (the part of the economy in which employees provide services and information, in contrast to producing manufactured goods, mining, or farming). Since August 2009, employment by staffing agencies has

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Ninth Circuit Affirms Class Cert Grant to Claims Adjusters

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit gave plaintiffs an important victory in off-the-clock overtime cases when it affirmed the district court’s grant of class certification to a class of auto, property, liability, casualty, and special investigations claims adjusters in Jimenez v. Allstate .  The Court first rejected Allstate’s argument that the common questions identified by the district

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Rhea v. General Atomics

In Rhea v. General Atomics, 14 C.D.O.S. 8201, the California Court of Appeal on Tuesday reaffirmed an earlier decision holding that an employer can require (or allow) an exempt employee to use vacation/paid time off (PTO) for partial day absences without compromising the employee’s exempt status.  The Rhea Court further held that an employer can

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Overtime Pay Nuts and Bolts

Who is entitled to overtime pay in California? Both federal and California law requires that employees be paid the minimum wage for all hours worked and that nonexempt employees be paid the proper overtime pay rate for overtime hours worked.  Stating the rule is the easy part.  How is it applied in practice? First, one

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When is a Salesperson Entitled to Overtime Pay in California?

The default rule is that California employers must pay all their employees overtime. Employees who work overtime are entitled to 1.5 times their normal hourly pay, or “time and a half” for each hour worked over 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.  Lab. Code 510, subd. (a). However, there are several categories

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Wang v. Chinese Daily News is Still Making News

More than a decade has passed since plaintiffs filed Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Case No. 04-cv-01498 (C.D. Cal.), and more than nine years have passed since the plaintiffs first obtained certification of a California class of hourly employees and later successfully tried the case and won a $5.1 million verdict in the case for

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Security Guards Win Class Cert for Meal and Rest Break Claims

Interesting class certification decision involving security guards and on duty meal periods from the Central District of California last week. Judge Josephine Staton certified meal and rest period claims involving a class of 15,000 security guards who were required to sign on-duty meal period agreements and then work through their meal periods. The district court’s finding that

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California Appeals Court Confirms "Renewed Direction" In Favor of Class Certification

As I noted earlier –  – Big wage and hour news today out of Los Angeles.  The Second Appellate District ordered published a powerful opinion reversing a trial court’s order denying class certification in an exempt status misclassification case.  The Order in Martinez v. Joe’s Crab Shacks, found here, confirms that the California Supreme Court’s decision

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Unpaid Internships

Intern Programs and Compliance With the Law For employers, December raises questions about how to prevent problems at the holiday party and what to do when the alcohol and holiday-spirit induced indiscretions inevitably arise. June brings questions about the unpaid interns scheduled to arrive in the next week or so. Although some companies have in

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