The de minimis doctrine (taken from the Latin maxim de minimis non curat lex) means “[t]he law does not concern itself with trifles”. In adopting this doctrine, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides that insignificant periods of time beyond scheduled working hours, which cannot be precisely recorded for … Read More
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) requires courts to enforce agreements to arbitrate. However, its “saving clause” states that written arbitration agreements “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.” On the other hand, the National … Read More
The California Supreme Court’s unanimous April 30 opinion in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, 2018 Cal. LEXIS 3152 (Cal. Apr. 30, 2018) changed the test for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. The case was brought on behalf of delivery drivers … Read More
Under both California Labor Code section 226.7 and the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Order No. 4-2001, employers are required to provide employees with a rest period of at least 10 minutes for every four hours of work or major faction thereof. The question employers often ask is: may employers … Read More
May a party who prevails on an action based on Labor Code section 226.7 for failure to provide rest breaks be awarded attorneys fees? That was the question that was answered in Kirby v. Immoos Fire Protection, Inc., 53 Cal.4th 1244, 1248 (2012). Plaintiffs Anthony Kirby and Rick Leech, Jr. … Read More