California Labor & Employment Law Update - Winter 2006

U.S. Supreme Court Update

• Four Employment Cases Pending Before The Court.

Wage-Hour Developments

• California Court of Appeal Confirms Employer Right To Recover Advanced Commissions.
• Exhaustion Requirements Of Private Attorneys General Act (PAG Act) Did Not Apply Where Statutory Penalties Were Available To Employees Under The Labor Code Prior To Enactment Of The PAG Act.

Discrimination and Retaliation Update

• Claimant Did Not Satisfy Her Burden Of Establishing That She Sustained A Compensable Industrial Injury Where Her Entire Psychiatric Disability Was Not Predominantly Work Induced But One Of Several Diagnosed Psychiatric Conditions Was Entirely Work Induced.
• Appellate Court Reverses Retaliation Jury Award For The Second Time.

Age Discrimination

• ADEA Claims Reinstated After Court Finds Waivers Were Not Knowing and Voluntary.

Privacy in the Workplace

• Employees Can Maintain An Invasion Of Privacy Action Without Showing That The Video Surveillance Camera System Recorded Their Actions Or Was Viewed By Others.
• Employee Has No Expectation Of Privacy For Pornographic Materials Stored On Workplace Computer.

Disability Discrimination Update

• Neither the Unruh Civil Rights Act Nor The Disabled Persons Act Address Job Bias And They Do not Track The Entire ADA.

Employee Benefits

• Ninth Circuit Provides Guidance For Review Of Denial Of ERISA Benefits Where The Administrator Operated Under A Conflict Of Interest Or The Process Was Irregular.
• Long-term Disability Plan That Provided Benefits Equal To 60% Of A Plan Participant’s Salary May Be Exempt From ERISA As A “Payroll Practice.”

Labor Law Update

• NLRB Issues New Guidelines For Determining Supervisory Status.
• Applying These Guidelines, The Board Concluded That Nursing Home Charge Nurses Were Not Supervisors.

Employment Contracts and Business Torts

• California Supreme Court Enforces Proposition 64’s Limitations On Who Can Sue Under California’s Unfair Competition Statute.
• Prop 64 Did Not Automatically Bar Plaintiffs’ Lawyers From Saving Their Cases By Amending The Complaints To Add New Plaintiffs.

Workers' Compensation

• The Presumption Established By Labor Code § 4664(B) Regarding Apportionment Of Permanent Disability Is Conclusive, Not Rebuttable.
• Off-Duty Corrections Officer Who Stopped To Aid Injured At An Accident Scene And Was Injured Himself Was Not Entitled To Workers’ Compensation.

False Claim Act Update

• Neither The California Nor The Federal False Claims Acts Require A Pre-Disclosure Notice To The Government For A Party To Be An Original Source.

Federal Administrative and Legislative Developments

• Passage Of The Pension Protection Act.
• SEC Issues Final Executive Compensation And Related Party Disclosure Guidance.

California Administrative and Legislative Developments