Author Archives: Ron Barsamian

California Supreme Court Addresses Background Checks

California Supreme Court Provides Helpful Guidance for Employers Conducting Background Checks In Connor v. First Student, Inc., 1,200 bus drivers filed suit against their employer, a bus transportation company, alleging illegal failure to adequately notify them and obtain their prior written authorization when conducting background checks. At issue was the fact that the information procured […]

The Absurdity of AB 2751

Gerawan’s Victory Over the UFW Underscores the Absurdity of AB 2751 Last month, agricultural employers everywhere watched as the Agricultural Labor Relations Board finally tallied the workers’ votes from the 2013 decertification election held at Gerawan Farming.  Two weeks later, the ALRB cemented Gerawan’s triumph over the United Farm Workers by affirming the 1,098 to […]

Five Years Later, Ballots Prove Workers Want Union Out

“No Union!  No Union!  No Union!”  After Five Years of ALRB Antics, the Voices of Thousands of Gerawan Farming’s Workers Have Finally Been Heard For the past five years, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board has spent millions in taxpayer funds (and, by recent estimates, over $13 million) to aid the UFW in suppressing the results […]

New Test for Independent Contractor Classifications

California Supreme Court Issues New Classification Guidelines for Independent Contractors On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903, clarifying the standard for determining whether workers in California should be classified as employees or as independent contractors for purposes of the […]

Court Disapproves of Indefinite Medical Leave

Employees Are Not Entitled to Multi-Month, Indefinite Medical Leaves of Absences California employers can breathe a sigh of relief in light of a recent decision from the Southern District Court of California. In Ruiz v. Paradigmworks Group, Inc., the court held that an employer is not required to extend an employee’s “multi-month” medical leave of […]

Retaliation Results in Huge Payout

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Reminds Employers Just How Costly Retaliation Claims Can Be After a nine-day jury trial, an employer, a current supervisor, and several of its former supervisors, were ordered to pay three employees $6.6 million for race-based discrimination and retaliation for filing administrative complaints about the discrimination. The case, Flores v. […]