California employment law moves fast.  Here’s your round-up of recent notable headlines.

Week of 7/22:

• PAGA.  The much-anticipated PAGA reform legislation is now effective will have a significant impact on PAGA lawsuits moving forward.  It’s now essential to work with experienced employment counsel to comply with wage and hours laws before receiving a PAGA notice and reacting to a PAGA notice and lawsuit as soon as your company receives them.  Our overview of the new PAGA legislation is available here.
• Retaliation.  How to handle underperforming and misbehaving employees who have engaged in protected activity creates a tricky balancing act.  A recent Ninth Circuit case highlights the risks and considerations.
• Arbitration Agreements.  In the never-ending saga over the enforceability of arbitration agreements, multiple recent decisions have highlighted the potential pitfalls of common arbitration agreement provisions.  Arbitration agreements can be worth their weight in gold.  It’s essential to work with knowledgeable employment counsel to implement enforceable arbitration agreements.
• Employment Legislation Season.  It’s that time of year again.  Every week brings a laundry list of new California employment laws, many of which will take effect on January 1^st(there are nearly 30 and counting thus far).  Stay tuned for an announcement about the scheduling of Newmeyer Dillion’s annual employment legislation update so you’re prepared for new employment laws that will impact your company.

Week of 7/1:

• PAGA.  Any employer that has experienced a Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) lawsuit knows #PAGA can be a nightmare.  An effort to reform PAGA was headed toward a ballot measure this November, but a deal was announced to head off the ballot measure in exchange for legislative reform.  The Governor signed two PAGA reform bills yesterday that may have a significant impact on PAGA lawsuits moving forward.  The bills are AB 2288 and SB 92.  It’s now more important than ever to work with experienced PAGA counsel as soon as you receive a PAGA notice and are named in a PAGA lawsuit.
• Speaking of PAGA.  PAGA plaintiffs must first provide notice of their PAGA claims to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency before filing a civil lawsuit.  While this is treated as a box-checking exercise by some, failure to properly check the box can defeat a PAGA lawsuit.  You can read one such example here.
• Arbitration Agreements.  Arbitration agreements are essential to defeating wage and hour class action lawsuit, but complications can arise when utilizing workers through staffing agencies.  One complication: companies may not be able to enforce an arbitration agreement between the worker and the staffing agency.  A recent case is one cautionary example.
• Warehouse Quotas.  Employers that use warehouse quotas must give employees notice of the quotas.  Failure to do so can lead to lawsuits and scrutiny from regulators, like here.
• Overtime Exemptions.  Classifying employees as exempt continues to be hotly contested.  The United States Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case to determine what standard employers have to satisfy under federal law to prove an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.  We’ll continue to follow this case as it develops and provide updates as they’re available.

Week of 6/24:

• AB 5.  Rideshare companies lost an attempt to invalidate California’s AB 5, which broadened the application of the “ABC” test used to classify workers as employees or independent contractors.  Correctly classifying workers requires detailed analysis; misclassifying them comes with big costs.  You can read the Ninth Circuit’s opinion here.
• Arbitration Agreements.  Arbitration agreements are worth their weight in gold.  Employees often challenge them by claiming they cannot remember signing them.  To beat this attack, companies must have effective recordkeeping practices in place to create and retain records to prove employees signed arbitration agreements.  Read more about this type of challenge here.
• Unfair Labor Practices.  Union campaigns are messy and tricky to navigate without triggering an unfair labor practices claim.  The NLRB has been active in this area in recent years.  Read about one such case here.
• Fitness For Duty Exams.  State and federal law prohibiting discrimination severely restricts employers’ right to use fitness for duty exams.  If done wrong, fitness for duty exams create massive risks, including the risk of class action litigation.  One such case reminds us of the risk (available here).
• Workplace Violence Prevention Plans.  Reminder that California employers have less than two weeks to create and implement a workplace violence prevention plan.  Read more about it here.

For more about these topics and other employment issues, contact Dutch Schotemeyer (Dutch.Schotemeyer@ndlf.com or 949.271.7260) or Jason Morris (Jason.Morris@ndlf.com or 949.271.7177).