Teresa McQueen is Corporate Counsel for Western Growers. In that capacity she provides advice and counsel to the organization on employment law matters and commercial trade practices. She also provides legal guidance to Western Growers members on employment law, human resources, and commercial agreements, as well as providing law-related educational opportunities and overseeing annual updates […]
A May 16, 2024 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court settles an ongoing question among the District and Circuit courts concerning the staying of court proceedings when an employment-related dispute is subject to arbitration. The case Smith v. Spizzirri involved claims of misclassification relating to independent contractors. The question before the Court was whether a trial court has the…
A recent Ninth Circuit case holds that only individual PAGA claims can be subject to arbitration. In the case, Diaz v. Macy’s West Stores, Diaz sued her former employer under PAGA alleging violations of California’s labor code on behalf of herself and other employees. A final ruling in the district court compelling arbitration of all Diaz’ claims was appealed to the Ninth Circuit by…
A confusing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling in the case Amazon.com Services LLC makes employer communications concerning union activity even more difficult to navigate. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in San Franciso recently ruled that opinion statements made by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (Jassy) violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) because they were deemed…
Under federal and state laws, all employers have a duty to take steps to help workers become acclimated to high heat conditions and to prevent potentially deadly heat-related situations. Federal OSHA provides agricultural employers with many useful resources through its OSHA Publications website. Cal/OSHA also provides employers with compliance tools when it comes to preventing heat-related…
Over the last two years the California Supreme Court case Naranjo et al. v. Spectrum Sec. Servs., Inc. has served to settle several divisive issues among the courts. With its May 6, 2024, ruling the Court gives us one final lesson. As discussed here, the original question before the Court concerned whether the law requires employers to treat certain amounts — premium pay awarded for…
California’s SB 553i requires all employers – with few exceptions – to create and implement a comprehensive Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP). As a reminder, the statute’s effective date of July 1, 2024, is just around the corner. Effective July 1st employers must have in place: A WVPP that meets the law’s specific standards; A violent incident log to…
An April 8, 2024, Memorandum issued by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo (General Counsel), advises regional offices to push the NLRB to pursue “the full panoply of remedies available to ensure that victims of unlawful conduct are made whole for losses suffered as a result of unfair labor practices.” A key focus of the memo is the General Counsel’s…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has finalized a new anti-harassment resource titled Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. Originally released for comment in 2017 the guidance was finalized November 1, 2023. The updated guidance reflects notable changes in the law since 2017 including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County,…
The U.S Supreme Court, in resolving a split among various Circuit courts, set a new standard for the amount of harm a plaintiff must demonstrate to bring an employment-related discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Over the years various Circuit courts have applied differing levels of the requisite harm required to show discrimination, resulting in…
