What goes up continues to go up!  As we pointed out here last year, the trend of increasing the minimum wage continues, as follows:

State:

On January 1, 2024, the California state minimum wage will increase from $15.50 per hour to $16.00 for employers of all sizes, reflecting a 3.5% increase, which is based on the expected rate of inflation.  The state minimum wage also governs the exempt employee threshold salary, which will increase accordingly.  The new minimum salary for employees who otherwise qualify to be exempt from overtime will be $66,560 annually for employers of all sizes.

On September 1, 2023, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 418, the California Food Safety Act.

If the law is passed, then any person or entity will be prohibited from manufacturing or selling a food product for human consumption containing specified food additives. The banned additives include brominated vegetable oil (CAS no. 8016-94-2); potassium bromate (CAS no. 7758-01-2); propylparaben (CAS no. 94-13-3); and red dye 3 (CAS no. 16423-68-0).  The original version of the bill included a fifth additive, titanium dioxide. However, shortly before the ...

On September 11, 2023, industry, government, and union representatives announced that they had reached a deal to remove a California referendum on the Fast Food Accountability and Standards (“FAST”) Recovery Act from the 2024 ballot. The Fast Act has a storied history, commencing with legislation which was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2023, which prompted a responsive referendum and legal action.    

The compromise bill, Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1228 will increase the minimum wage for fast food workers in the state to $20 an hour in April 2024 if the fast food chain has more ...

Q: In a receivership I just wrapped up, the court approved my final account and report and awarded me final fees. Because there were insufficient funds in estate to pay my fees in full, the court ordered the defendant to pay my outstanding approved fees. The defendant, however, has not paid me. Am I entitled to interest on my outstanding fees even though I don’t have a judgment?

A: Actually, you do have a judgment and you are entitled to interest on your unpaid fees. As explained in a prior Ask the Receiver, “judgment” is defined differently in different sections of the Code of Civil ...

On August 15, 2023, a panel of judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived a class action lawsuit against Nestle regarding its “Premier White Morsels” Toll House product.  In the opinion, Prescott v. Nestle USA, No. 22-15706, the court vacated the district court’s ruling and asked the court to reconsider its decision in light of the California Court of Appeal’s decision in Salazar v. Walmart, Inc., 83 Cal. App 5^th 561 (2022).

Plaintiffs alleged that Nestle violated California state law, including the Unfair Competition Law (“UCL” ...