On June 6, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not apply to airline cargo handlers because they belong to a “class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce” and are therefore exempt from coverage under Section 1 of the Act.

California law entitles employees to all wages owed at the time of termination, including accrued but unused vacation time. (Cal. Labor Code Section 227.3.) This rule sounds simple enough, but what about situations where the issue of termination is uncertain?

On January 24, 2022, the law firm behind Proposition 22 submitted a new ballot initiative to the California State Attorney General which aimed to uberize healthcare workers. As a reminder, Proposition 22 was the $200 million-plus initiative from 2020 funded by Uber Technologies Inc., DoorDash Inc., Lyft Inc. and Instacart to permit those companies to bypass California law so they could classify their drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees.

On February 4, 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order on the Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects (“Executive Order”). The Executive Order requires the use of project labor agreements (“PLA”) on federal construction projects valued over $35 million.

The California Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on January 27, 2022, Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., making it easier for an employee to successfully sue if they were terminated or otherwise retaliated against for making a whistleblowing claim.

As of January 31, 2022, labor organizations will no longer be required to submit the recently-created Form T-1 Trust Annual Report.

The federal government’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) mandating COVID-19 vaccination or testing for large businesses and federal contractors is the subject of intense litigation.

On April 14, 2015, Preferred Building Services, Inc. (“Preferred”) began providing janitorial services at a residential complex. Preferred was what is known as a “successor” janitorial contractor, taking over after the prior contractor, VPM Maintenance Management, LLC (“VPM”), terminated its janitorial contract.

The California Supreme Court has issued another wage and hour decision that will help workers recover hard-earned wages wrongfully withheld by their employers. In Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, the Court confirmed that an employee’s “regular” rate of pay, which is used to calculate the penalty paid by employers who fail to provide meal, rest, or recovery periods, encompasses all nondiscretionary compensation that the employer would normally use to calculate an employee’s overtime pay.