Under a new law passed this year by the Nevada Legislature—Assembly Bill (“AB”) 248—defendants (including employers) can no longer include certain confidentiality requirements in settlement agreements relating to claims of sexual harassment. Effective July 1, 2019, this legislation is clearly a legislative response to #MeToo and other similar movements across the country. As a result of AB 248, settlement agreements […]

California became the first state to ban workplace discrimination on the basis of hairstyles associated with race by enacting SB-188, also known as the Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act. (New York passed a similar law shortly after California.) The CROWN Act amends both the Education Code and the Government Code (i.e., the Fair Employment […]

On June 3, 2019, a Northern California Federal District Court Judge ordered Walmart to pay nearly $102 million for various wage and hour violations, primarily based on failure to provide wage statements (i.e., pay stubs) that comply with the requirements of California law. Background on PAGA California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) (Labor Code § 2698, et seq.) allows private […]

The 80th Session of the Nevada Legislature has now come to a close, and it was quite an active year for matters of labor and employment law. From minimum wage to paid time off, several new laws will be taking effect in the coming months, and Nevada employers will need to act quickly to be ready for the changes.   […]

Classifying, and defending the decision to classify, the independent contractor status of workers in California just became more difficult. Last year on April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court adopted a new test to determine whether workers are independent contractors or employees under California’s wage orders in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court. Recently, on May 2, 2019, the […]

Last month, a California Court of Appeal ruled that requiring an employee to call into work prior to the start of an on-call shift triggers the employer’s responsibility to pay reporting time pay in the event the employee is not furnished at least half his usual or scheduled day’s work.   What Is Reporting Time Pay?   Under California law, […]

On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the purpose of raising the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees under federal law.   Background   The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) provides an exemption from federal minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for employees in bona fide executive, administrative, professional, and […]

In California, employers must provide employees a net thirty-minute meal period—exclusive of preparatory and conclusory activities such as travel time and changing time. The first meal period must commence no later than the end of the fifth hour worked, and where employees work more than 10 hours, a second meal period must commence no later than the end of the […]

SHLC attorneys Evelin Bailey and Justin Vecchiarelli were named Northern California “Rising Stars”.  Ms. Bailey was selected as a Top Rated Employment & Labor Law attorney. Ms. Bailey has been selected to “Rising Stars “since 2014. Mr. Vecchiarelli was selected as a Top Rated Employment Litigation attorney.   This “Rising Stars” honor recognizes attorneys who are 40 years old or […]

Employers often adopt civility policies, including policies that prohibit employees from using threatening or intimidating language, or using abusive or vulgar language towards co-workers or supervisors.  Violations of those policies, warn employers, may result in disciplinary action, including termination of employment. The National Labor Relation Board (the Board) recently found that a Nexteer Automotive Corp. employee who shouted profanity at […]