Managers of Bankrupt Corporation Sued For Unpaid Wages
In Boucher v. Shaw, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that managers could be sued under the Fair Labor Standards Act even though the corporation had filed for bankruptcy protection. In Boucher, former employees and their union filed a class action against three managers after The Castaways Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center filed for bankruptcy protection. The employees sought unpaid wages under Nevada law and the FLSA.
Federal Minimum Wage Increases & New Poster Required
The federal minimum wage increased to $7.25 on Friday, July 24, 2009. The Fair Labor Standars Act sets the minimum amount that employees working in the United States can be paid. States, like California, are free to set higher standards. With this change, employees who are covered by the FLSA will be entitled to be paid no less than $7.25 per hour. A revised Federal minimum wage poster is now available for viewing, downloading, and posting. Every employer of employees subject to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments so as to permit employees to readily read it.
Starbucks Tip-Pooling Plan OK
Shift supervisors at Starbucks are now able to receive tips! A judge previously awarded $86 million in restitution to a class of Starbucks baristas on the grounds that Starbucks's policy permitting shift supervisors to share in tips that customers place in a collective tip box violated the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200) based on a violation of Labor Code section 351.
Starbucks appealed the decision and, in a somewhat surprising decision, the fourth appellate district concluded that Starbucks's tip-allocation policy did not violate California law.
In the past weeks we have detailed several employment arbitration agreements that California courts have refused to enforce (see "Another Employment Arbitration Agreement Unenforceable"and "Court Strikes Another Arbitration Agreement"). In a somewhat surprising decision the Second Appellate District held that an an employment application that contained an arbitration agreement was not rendered one-sided by the use of the phrase “I agree.”
A California Appellate Court concluded that an employer is not responsible when a former employee causes the death of a customer two years after the employment relationship ended. In Phillips v. TLC Plumbing, Inc., the court held that an employer owed a former customer no duty of care as to post-termination tortious conduct of a former employee.
Another Employment Arbitration Agreement Unenforceable
In Franco v. Athens Disposal Company, Inc. an appellate court refused to enforce an employee arbitration agreement that barred both class arbitration and the employee’s prosecution of civil remedies under the Private Attorney General Act.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's Impact on COBRA requirements.
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRI).While the ARRI is intended to stimulate the economy, it also makes important changes to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA).
COBRA requires employer-provided group health plans to offer individuals who would otherwise lose their group health plan coverage as a result of a termination or other qualifying event the opportunity to continue their group
On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA). The ADAAA broadens the definition of what constitutes a “disability” and rejects several U.S. Supreme Court decisions as well as several EEOC ADA regulations. The ADAAA brings the ADA closer to California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act’s view on disabilities.
