SUTTON | HAGUE

  California’s Fair Employment and Housing Council (“FEHC”) adopted new regulations focused on preventing national origin discrimination, which into effect July 1, 2018. These new regulations are extensive and include clarifications on the definitions of “national origin” and “national origin groups,” the permissible and prohibited 1) types of employer policies governing language restrictions (i.e., English only policies) in the workplace, […]

Since 2006, Nevada’s two-tiered minimum wage has allowed employers who offer qualifying health benefits to employees to pay a dollar less per hour than employees to whom such benefits are not offered. However, until the Nevada Supreme Court’s decision in the closely-watched MDC Restaurants, LLC v. Eighth Judicial District (Diaz) on May 31, 2018, there was no clear standard for […]

While California’s employment laws are generally considered “employee friendly,” many employers are perhaps not as aware of local city and county laws that go much further than state laws.  San Francisco is a prime example and it is important to note both recent and forthcoming changes in its City Ordinances governing employment laws. The following is a summary of some […]

Employers won a victory at the United States Supreme Court today, when the Court ruled 5-4 in Epic Systems Corporation v. Lewis that class action waivers in mandatory arbitration agreements do not violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Several Courts of Appeal, including the Ninth Circuit, had held that Section VII of the NLRA, which protects employees’ right to […]

Last week, the California Supreme Court dramatically reshaped how to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee entitled to overtime, meal and rest periods, and other labor protections enshrined in the Industrial Welfare Commission’s (“IWC”) Wage Orders. While the method endorsed by the Court—the  so-called “ABC Test”—is arguably simpler and more predictable than the multi-factor test […]

Earlier this year, we discussed the legal requirements of the immigration worksite enforcement action bill AB 450.  One of those requirements includes providing notice to employees within 72 hours after receiving a Notice of Inspection by immigration enforcement to review I-9 documents.  The Labor Commissioner was to develop a template on or before July 1, 2018.  This template – called […]

Everyone Into the (Tip) Pool! Congress recently rolled back a 2011 U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulation that restricted the scope of employer-required tip pools. The 2011 regulation limited tip pools to employees who “customarily and regularly receive tips” for the work they perform. Under the regulation, waiters, waitresses, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders could […]

Earlier this week, the California Supreme Court dove into that most important legal subject: basic math. The case of Alvarado v. Dart Container Corp. centered on what the denominator should be when calculating the regular rate of pay, which is in turn used to calculate the overtime pay for employees receiving a flat sum attendance bonus. As all employers should […]

This past weekend, Oakland’s Mayor Libby Schaff warned of imminent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) activity in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mayor Schaff’s announcement was made after ICE agents issued Notices of Inspection to approximately 77 restaurants and other businesses in Northern California during the first week of February 2018.  News outlets are reporting that more than 150 […]

On January 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) formally issued 17 Opinion Letters that reproduce verbatim the text of letters that were signed by the administrator of the Wage and Hour Division approximately nine years ago near the end of the George W. Bush Administration but never issued. An Official of the DOL explained that the letters had […]