In a qui tam lawsuit, a private individual brings an action on the government’s behalf. The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §3729-3733) authorizes qui tam actions against parties who have defrauded the federal government. The whistleblower bringing the action, also called a relator, must inform the United States of...
Some people might think that catcalling (such as whistles, suggestive comments, and sexual advances) at their workplace is just an unpleasant part of their job that they have to endure. This is untrue. Some might be asking, is catcalling sexual harassment? The answer is yes in many circumstances. If...
Il Fornaio, a California-based Italian restaurant chain, will pay $3,000,000 to settle a federal lawsuit. The EEOC alleged that supervisors and employees sexually harassed female workers, many of them teenagers. It also alleged that the company retaliated against women who complained. California law prohibits sexual harassment at work, including...
The EEOC recently alleged that an American Airlines reservations representative in Fort Worth, who developed cortical blindness, was denied the essential tools she needed to perform her job. She requested screen reader software—a standard, inexpensive technology that converts text to speech—and, alternatively, a transfer to a vacant position. According...
McKinney v. Scale AI, Inc. (S.F. Super. Ct. No. CGC-24-620481) Key Takeaway: Scale AI, the San Francisco company behind much of the labeled data that trains today’s leading AI models, agreed to a $12.5 million class action settlement over claims that it misclassified its data-annotation workforce as independent contractors...
Cortina v. North American Title Co. (2026) — Cal.App.5th —, F085389 Key Takeaway: A California appeals court erased a $75 million judgment won by roughly 400 escrow workers who proved they were misclassified as exempt and denied overtime pay. The reversal turned on procedural errors and a flawed trial...
Doss v. Tesla, Inc. (2026) — Cal.App.5th —, A173210 Key Takeaway: The First District Court of Appeal held that Tesla’s yard hostlers — workers who move 53-foot trailers containing auto parts around Tesla’s Fremont factory grounds — are transportation workers engaged in interstate commerce under Section 1 of the...
Key Takeaway The First District Court of Appeal ruled that a furniture delivery driver who carried goods from a distribution center to retail customers counts as a transportation worker, which means his contract is exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act under Section 1. That held true even though his...
Taduran v. James R. Glidewell, Dental Ceramics, Inc. (2026) — Cal.App.5th —, G064718 Key Takeaway: The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s award of $516,965 in PAGA civil penalties and $733,440 in attorney fees in a case involving overtime, rest period, and wage statement violations. The...
A nursing program director sexually harassed a student in his clinical program, retaliated when she rejected him, and forced her out of the program. Then the school argued in court that she had no right to sue because she was a student, not an employee. A California appellate court...
When your employer presents termination documents, you may wonder whether you have to sign them. The answer is no. Neither California nor federal law requires employees to sign termination papers. However, understanding what those documents contain and what happens if you refuse to sign them is essential to protecting...
California law prohibits employers from punishing employees who report illegal conduct. This protection exists because employers cannot reverse what employees expose, creating incentives for employers to respond by silencing the whistleblower. Yet retaliation accounts for nearly half of all workplace discrimination charges filed with federal regulators—42,301 complaints in 2024...