Magistrate Judge Beeler compels Alclear (the parent of the Clear airport-screening service) to arbitrate the California Labor Code claims of a former San Francisco International Airport ambassador, finding that the company’s Clear Hub electronic transcript proves she signed the arbitration agreement
Magistrate Judge Corley denies Macy’s motion to compel arbitration of a putative wage-and-hour class action by California warehouse fulfillment associates, holding that they are transportation workers exempt from the FAA under Ortiz v. Randstad Inhouse Services.
Judge David O. Carter sua sponte remanded an Amazon employee’s wrongful-termination suit, refusing to credit speculative emotional-distress, punitive, and attorneys’ fees damages — leaving roughly $71,780 in calculated wages and vacation, just under the $75,000 threshold. He again called
First District reverses summary judgment for the Salvation Army in a wage suit by adult-rehabilitation ‘work therapy’ participants, holding that the trial court applied the wrong legal standard for distinguishing a volunteer from an employee under California wage law.
Third District affirms denial of Sierra Pacific’s motion to compel arbitration in coordinated wage-and-hour class actions, finding the company waived arbitration rights by litigating for years and refusing to produce signed arbitration agreements until after class certification.
Judge Sunshine Sykes denied remand of a Wayfair wrongful-termination suit, counting $32,302 in past lost wages plus 1:1 ratios for emotional-distress and punitive damages to reach roughly $96,908 — well above the $75,000 diversity threshold. Plaintiff’s mitigation argument was rejected because
Judge David O. Carter sua sponte remanded a Walgreens wrongful-termination case after refusing to credit speculative emotional-distress, punitive, and attorneys’ fees damages — leaving only $24,327 in past lost wages, well below the $75,000 threshold. He used the opinion to call on Congress to
Judge Hernán D. Vera remanded a janitor’s FEHA discrimination and wage-and-hour suit to state court, rejecting the employer’s argument that the plaintiff’s possible undocumented status and the IRCA/Hoffman back-pay defense created federal-question jurisdiction under Grable. The cou
Chief Judge Seeborg dismisses without leave to amend a former BART electrician’s common-law wrongful-termination/constructive-discharge claim, holding that under Lopez v. Southern Cal. Rapid Transit District a California public entity cannot be sued in tort without an authorizing statute.
Judge Illston transfers a Social Security ALJ’s disability-accommodation suit against the SSA Commissioner to the Central District of California, where the plaintiff’s assigned hearing office is located, applying the federal-employee venue provisions of Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act and the c
Eastern District of California grants summary judgment for ConAgra in a long-running employment discrimination case, holding that a Civil Rights Department complaint with only conclusory check-box allegations does not exhaust administrative remedies under California’s Fair Employment and Housi
Judge Martínez-Olguín dismisses a putative wage-and-hour class action by a public-transit bus driver, holding that his California Labor Code claims are preempted by Section 301 of the LMRA because the CBA between MV Transportation and Teamsters Local 315 triggers the statutory exemptions for unioniz
Judge Martínez-Olguín grants MV Transportation’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in the parallel PAGA action by the same WestCAT bus driver, holding that the Section 301 preemption analysis applies just the same to a PAGA representative action as it does to a class wage-and-hour suit.
Judge Sunshine Sykes remanded a FedEx age- and disability-discrimination suit, holding the in-state supervisor was not fraudulently joined: California law excepts discrimination and retaliation from Workers’ Comp Act preemption, and the supervisor’s alleged conduct could plausibly suppor
Eastern District of California rules on pre-trial motions in limine, allowing the plaintiff in a FEHA disability discrimination case to introduce comparator evidence about other employees’ misconduct and rejecting the employer’s argument that subsequent comparable employment fully cuts o
Judge Martínez-Olguín denies a Tesla worker’s motion to revisit an order compelling arbitration of his harassment claims, holding that an old administrative right-to-sue notice was not “newly discovered evidence” and that recent out-of-circuit decisions on the federal sexual-harassment arbitration c
Judge Pitts denies in large part Santa Clara County’s motion to dismiss a hospital sterile-processing educator’s First Amendment and California whistleblower claims, but trims away time-barred individual defendants and a stale FEHA retaliation theory.