Employment Legal News Articles & Interviews

Tracy, CA: A proposed $5.3 million settlement by Taylor Farms Pacific Inc. to resolve claims that employees were not paid for donning and doffing and other California labor law violations was declined by a California federal judge last month, because the court “cannot simply rubber stamp a class action settlement.”

Santa Ana, CA Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz, who mismanaged the investments of the Retirement Plan of Freedom Communications, Inc. (the Pension Plan) have offered to settle an ERISA lawsuit brought by the federal Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for $7.8 million.

Los Angeles, CA Household workers, including those who care for the elderly or people with disabilities, are among the most vulnerable to wage theft and other forms of employment abuse. They work in isolation, behind closed doors and sometimes in fear of deportation. Ray v. County of Los Angeles cuts through the fog and fear to make clear that private litigants may recover unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The bigger picture is that the change in federal protection fills a gap in the legal safety net left under California’s Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, Wage Order 15 and other provisions of California labor employment law.

Oakland, CA: If finally approved, a lawsuit brought under PAGA will settle California labor law claims brought on behalf of 35,000 workers in California who allege that Safeway failed to provide accurate pay stubs. The giant supermarket chain’s $1.45 million deal would affect former and current workers.

Birmingham, AL In an ERISA lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Alabama, participants in the Compass SmartInvestor 401(k) Plan claim that Plan fiduciaries failed in their legal duty to act prudently for the benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries. The Plan offered only one poorly performing short-term bond investment option and failed to monitor the investment performance of higher cost funds, ostensibly selected to produce higher yields.

Oakland, CA A former Payless Car Rental Inc. employee has asked a California court to grant class action status to a lawsuit that focuses on meal break waivers that were allegedly illegal under California labor employment law. Judge Michael Markman seemed doubtful, but set the next hearing date for November 5. A denial of class action status would likely put an end to the lawsuit, at least with regard to classes of plaintiffs not certified.

Los Angeles, CA: Former Emmy-winning producer Stanley Wilson filed an employee discrimination lawsuit against CNN, as a violation of California labor law, back in 2014 and the case has wound up in the California Supreme Court, partially overturning a previous court decision allowing CNN to wield California’s anti-SLAPP statute to dismiss Wilson’s lawsuit.

Sacramento, CA: Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age, at least not with Google. If it did, Google would have wizened up a decade ago, when the courts warned the Internet giant of its “systematic practice of discrimination" involving job applicants who were age 40 and over. Instead, it recently shelled out $11 million to settle a California age discrimination class action lawsuit.

Boston, MA Since the beginning of 2019, a collection of class action ERISA lawsuits has worked to expose a secret pay-to-play scheme that arguably benefited Fidelity Management and Research Company and related companies (“Fidelity”) at the expense of 401k retirement savers.

San Francisco, CA The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California appears ready to approve a settlement in Dulberg v. Uber Technologies Inc. that will net nearly a quarter of the drivers only $20. The class action lawsuit is notable for two reasons. It was brought as a contract lawsuit, not under the provisions of California labor employment law. Secondly, the payouts are very small for many of those included in the class. Even Judge William Alsup, who presided over the case, described the settlement as “a low-end recovery for the class.”