Trevor Bryne1 Over the past few decades, it has become increasingly common for American corporations to require workers and consumers to sign arbitration agreements. Through these agreements, workers and consumers waive their right to pursue a lawsuit in court if they are harmed by the corporation’s misconduct. Instead, they must submit to a process called …
By Trevor Byrne1 A class action lawsuit is a case brought by one or more individuals on behalf of a larger group of people who have suffered similar injuries caused by the same unlawful conduct. The resolution of the case—either by trial or by settlement—applies to each member of the class. Class actions can be …
By Alex Li Dan Gildor, Valerian Law’s new Senior Counsel, has lived many professional lives: as an aspiring astrophysicist at MIT, a programmer at start-ups during Silicon Valley’s dot-com boom, an environmental litigator enforcing the Clean Water Act, a lawyer for the Department of Industrial Relations, and a plaintiff’s-side employment lawyer for renowned class-action law …
Affirmative Action Up for Debate at the Supreme Court As we wrote about in our previous blog post on affirmative action, two ongoing Supreme Court cases on affirmative action in college admissions are predicted to have wider impacts that go beyond the realm of education, affecting how employers are able to seek out and hire …
By Eileen Torrez, November 30th, 2022 Three important federal laws form the basis for protecting U.S. employees from discrimination in the workplace: the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We’ve written about the EPA here and the ADA here. This article focuses on …
Affirmative Action Part 1 of 2 | Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause Read More »
“I am a Human Resource generalist at a mid-sized private company. I told my department manager that we should not discourage employees from talking about pay, because that could be illegal. I learned this at a training hosted by our outside employment law firm about how HR should be handling compensation questions. My manager replied …
You Could be a Whistleblower Even If You Don’t Know It Read More »
By Helen Halldorsson, Esq. & Marcelo Lopez The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 Current Population Survey revealed that Black women working full time received 63 cents for every 1 dollar paid to White men. This resulted in annual losses of $21,001 for Black women in 2016 alone [1]. Five years later, the state of California still …
We are launching a series to address a question many people have about what it means for there to be unequal pay at work, and what laws address the problem. Our focus is on the California Equal Pay Act and the protections that employees in California have. Today we will start with the basics of …
Happy New Year! In California, a new year often brings new laws protecting employees. Let’s dive into one that applies to our clients dealing with NDAs and employment contracts: The Silenced No More Act. As of 2 years ago, California already broke new ground in protecting employees by outlawing confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements for …
2022 is almost upon us. We are almost 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic and smack in the middle of cold and flu season. Earlier in the pandemic, federal and California laws provided emergency paid sick leave that had the effect of expanding California workers’ sick leave. Those have all expired. So what protections do …
We’re Still in the COVID-19 World: Do I Have the Right to Paid Leave If I’m Affected? Read More »