Assembly Bill 1897 is essentially an effort to hold employers who contract for labor accountable for wage and hour violations, something the legislature has sought to do in various failed legislative attempts over the last several years. Specifically, AB 1897 adds section 2810.3 to the Labor Code and requires client employers to share all civil legal responsibility and liability with labor contractors. “Client employer” is defined to exclude businesses with a workforce of less than 25 workers and employers who employ five or fewer workers through a labor contractor at any ...

We’ve written about the abuse of interns previously. At the time, we were focused on the all-too-common practice of using unpaid interns to augment the workforce, a violation of labor law that occurs frequently in the entertainment industry. But whether paid or unpaid, it is clear that interns and volunteers must be treated with the same dignity and respect as are paid employees and independent contractors.

Indeed, Assembly Bill 1443 recently amended the Fair Employment and Housing Act to prohibit discrimination in the selection, termination, training or treatment of unpaid ...

Assembly Bill 2053 expanded the existing requirement for sexual harassment training under Government Code section 12950.1 to include training on the prevention of abusive conduct. Effective January 1, 2015, the law applies to every California employer that employs 50 or more persons or receives the services of 50 or more persons pursuant to a contract. “Abusive conduct” is defined as conduct that a reasonable person would find hostile and offensive and is otherwise unrelated to legitimate business interests. Abusive conduct may include derogatory remarks, insults ...

QUESTION: I am a receiver for an operating entity. It has three offices. The rent for one of the offices is excessive and the business does not need all the space. I have approached the landlord about giving back some of the space or terminating the lease, but no dice. Can I reject the lease like a bankruptcy trustee?

ANSWER: While trustees and receivers are different, there are many similarities. The Bankruptcy Code adopted many provisions from prior receivership practice. The power to assume or reject a lease is one of them. A receiver is not stuck with a defendant’s leases just ...