Legal News

Although it was very quiet on the western front (in particular, in California), 2019 was generally a solid year for banks pursuing merger and acquisition opportunities and accessing the capital markets. Some forthcoming regulatory changes and a “new...By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

AB 51 was signed into law on October 10, 2019, and purported to outlaw the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in employment claims related to the Fair Employment and Housing Act or the Labor Code. You can read our previous article on AB 51 here....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

With the New Year approaching, so too are a legion of enhanced workplace protections. For example, beginning in January 2020, employers will be bound by the following: ..New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) Expands to Cover Independent...By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

As 2019 winds down, employers should keep an eye on the five biggest employment law trends for 2020. ..Sexual orientation discrimination: legal or not? At the top of the list, employers should be ready for the forthcoming decision from the U.S....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Advocating for nonemployees does not qualify for protection under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently determined....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

An arbitrator could bind absent class members to a Title VII and Equal Pay Act (EPA) class action where the plaintiffs all signed arbitration agreements that consented to the arbitrator’s authority, the U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit was not persuaded that because marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), an employer was absolved of the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

As “whistleblower” issues pervade national headlines, lawmakers in some jurisdictions, including New York, have recently sought to expand existing whistleblower protections. The New York Labor Law, for example, currently prohibits employers from...By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Agreeing with a trial court that the arbitration agreements at issue were both procedurally and substantively unconscionable, a California appellate panel denied the employer’s motion to compel arbitration....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

A California federal court decertified a class of millions of Walmart employees after concluding that the named plaintiffs lacked Article III standing to bring their challenge to the employer’s use of background checks....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP