On July 26, 2018, the California Supreme Court ruled that Starbucks cannot rely on the de minimis doctrine to combat its ex-employee’s claims for unpaid wages when closing the coffee shop at the end of the day. The ruling is a significant win for hourly workers as it ensures that Golden State employers cannot duck […]
On June 4, 2018, the United States Supreme Court delivered its much-anticipated decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd., et al. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, et al. In an extremely narrow ruling, the Supreme Court held that Masterpiece Cakeshop did not have to pay penalties for refusing to prepare a wedding cake for a same sex […]
On May 17, 2018, Justice Jeffrey Brown of the New York State Supreme Court for Nassau County shot down an argument that the plaintiffs, who were former employees of the defendants, could not pursue a class action to recover unpaid wages because it was supposedly “patently obvious” that the plaintiffs lacked proper immigration documentation. Specifically, […]
On April 30, 2018, the Supreme Court of California, the highest court in the State, reached a landmark decision for hourly workers. In Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Lee, the Court denied Dynamex’s appeal of the lower court’s order, which certified a class of delivery drivers who Dynamex argued were independent contractors, and therefore not […]
On Thursday, April 26, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of a New York City cocktail server fired two days after complaining at a staff meeting about the wage practices and working conditions at the upscale Ascent Lounge. The Board agreed with an administrative law judge-finding that the timing of the server’s […]
California workers obtain a substantial victory as the California Second Appellate District found arbitration agreements, signed by over one hundred employees in the wake of a coworker initiating a wage-and-hour class action, to be procedurally and substantially unconscionable. The Court held that “the language of the provision and the circumstances under which it was presented […]
Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the highest federal court in California, issued a significant decision that could ultimately have national implications for women fighting to be paid equally with their male peers. In Rizo v. Yovino, a female math consultant sued the superintendent of a California school district under the Equal […]
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the highest federal court in New York, held in Chauca v. Abraham that an employee may recover punitive damages against an employer under the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) by showing merely that the employer acted with “with willful or wanton negligence” in discriminating against the employee. […]
On March 1, 2018, three United States Senators – Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) – wrote joint letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) requesting any information that the agencies have regarding the prevalence of sexual harassment in the financial industry. […]
On February 26, 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a landmark decision in Zarda v. Altitude Express, holding that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of an employee’s sexual orientation. While the United States Supreme Court has not yet addressed this issue, the Second Circuit […]
Au Pairs across the nation recently obtained a huge victory in their fight to gain protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and various other laws. The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado granted class certification in a case entitled Beltran v. InterExchange, Inc. – a ruling that allows over 91,000 au […]
New York City recently adopted amendments to the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) to extend new and heightened protections to employees requesting reasonable accommodations. Starting October 15, 2018, employers are required to engage in a “cooperative dialogue” with (i) employees with disabilities; (ii) pregnant women; (iii) victims of domestic violence; and (iv) individuals […]
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