Employment Law Case Notes

• Jurisdiction: California,United States,Federal
• Author: By Anthony J. Oncidi
• Publication year: 2016
• Citation: Vol. 30 No. 6

Employment Law Case Notes

By Anthony J. Oncidi

Anthony J. Oncidi is a partner in and the Chair of the Labor and Employment Department of Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles, where he exclusively represents employers and management in all areas of employment and labor law. His telephone number is (310) 284-5690 and his email address is aoncidi@proskauer. com. (Tony has authored this column without interruption for every issue of this publication since 1990.)

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Employer's Class Action Waiver

Morris v. Ernst & Young, LLP, 834 F.3d 975 (9th Cir. 2016)

As a condition of employment, Stephen Morris and Kelly McDaniel were required to sign agreements not to join with other employees in bringing legal claims. They agreed to bring only individual claims via arbitration against their employer. Morris and McDaniel filed a class and collective action against the company, alleging they had been misclassified as employees exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and California state law. In response, the employer filed a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the agreements the employees had signed; the district court ordered individual arbitration and dismissed the case. In this opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the judgment, holding that the agreement interfered with the employees' rights under sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (protecting "concerted activity"). In so holding, the Ninth Circuit joined the Seventh Circuit in adopting the position of the National Labor Relations Board, as set forth in D.R. Horton, 357 NLRB No. 184 (2012), enf. denied, 737 F.3d 344 (5th Cir. 2013) and Murphy Oil USA, Inc., 361 NLRB No. 72 (2014), enf. denied, 808 F.3d 1013 (5th Cir. 2015).

Race Discrimination Claim Was Not Barred by Statute of Limitations

Mitchell v. California Dep't of Public Health, 1 Cal. App. 5th 1000 (2016)

Reginald Mitchell sued his former employer, the California Department of Public Health, for racial discrimination in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The trial court sustained the employer's demurrer based upon the statute of limitations, but the court of appeal reversed, holding that the complaint sufficiently established a claim of equitable tolling that prevented dismissal. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) issued a right-to-sue letter on September 9, 2011 and stated that the federal Equal Employment Opportunity...