Rest-Break and Meal-Period Premium Pay: Working the Regular-Rate Math
The one-hour premium under Labor Code section 226.7 sounds simple until you have to price it. Brinker set the trigger, Ferra fixed the rate…
Category
Employment Law
California employment law for plaintiff and worker-side practice — wage & hour, PAGA, FEHA discrimination, wrongful termination, and the regulatory shifts shaping 2026 litigation.
Caregiver-Status Discrimination Under FEHA: The Plaintiff's Playbook
California has no freestanding "caregiver status" under FEHA, yet workers fired for tending sick parents or disabled children win. The clai…
The Interactive Process Under FEHA: What the Case Law Requires in 2026
The failure to engage in a good-faith interactive process is its own cause of action under FEHA — separate from the failure to accommodate.…
WARN Act and California Mini-WARN: Enforcing the Layoff-Notice Case
Federal WARN and California's mini-WARN look like the same statute until you read them side by side. The gaps between them — temporary layo…
PAGA Reform Mechanics: How SB 92 and AB 2288 Actually Work in 2026
The 2024 PAGA reform rewired representative actions for any notice filed on or after June 19, 2024. Two years in, the mechanics — heightene…
Labor Code 1102.5 After Lawson: A Whistleblower Claim Playbook
For years defense counsel litigated Labor Code 1102.5 retaliation claims under the McDonnell Douglas framework. The California Supreme Cour…
FEHA Pregnancy and Family-Leave Claims: Post-2024 Enforcement Patterns
California's pregnancy and family-leave docket has tightened since 2024, with the CRD pushing more charges to formal investigation and stat…
Solo Wage-and-Hour Claims: When the Math Works Without PAGA or a Class
Most plaintiff PI lawyers reflexively push wage claims toward class or PAGA. The single-plaintiff case still wins on many fact patterns — i…
AB 5 and the ABC Test in 2026: Misclassification Posture for Plaintiff PI
Six years into AB 5, the misclassification question is no longer novel — but it still decides who pays in PI cases. A working walkthrough o…
National Origin Discrimination: Language Policy Case Law Under FEHA
English-only rules and accent complaints look like management prerogatives until you read them against FEHA. California gives you a statute…
Sexual Harassment Settlement Architecture After AB 749 and SB 331
Six years after AB 749 voided no-rehire clauses and four years after SB 331 expanded the Silenced No More Act, California sexual harassment…
California's Equal Pay Act and the 2026 Prima Facie Threshold
The California Equal Pay Act asks less of the plaintiff at the outset than most wage claims — and more of the employer once the burden shif…