Q: I am a receiver in a Ponzi scheme case. While I know I can sue to recover excess payments made to investors in the scheme, the false profit they were paid, per Donell v. Kowell, 533 F3d 762 (9th Cir. 2008), in my case large sums were paid as referral or broker fees to get investors to invest. Are those payments recoverable in the Ninth Circuit?

A: Yes. While there has been split in cases across the county on the issue, the majority view has been such payments are fraudulent transfers, because no “value” is given for the services rendered. Compare, Warfield v. Byron, 436 F3d 551, 560 (5th Cir ...

On July 3, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 188, the Crown Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair).

The text of the law includes an explanation for its purpose. In pertinent part, SB 188 states that the “history of our nation is riddled with laws and societal norms that equated ‘blackness,’ and the associated physical traits, for example, dark skin, kinky and curly hair to a badge of inferiority, sometimes subject to separate and unequal treatment.” It goes on to state that the societal understanding of “professionalism was, and ...

On July 1st, the City of Los Angeles will raise the minimum wage for employers with at least 26 employees to $14.25, and for employers with fewer than 26 employees to $13.25.

In determining whether this increase applies to a particular employee, employers should know that it is not where an employee lives, nor where an employer is based, that determines the minimum wage that must be paid.  Rather, it is where the employee works that matters.  All employees working in a particular week for at least 2 hours within the City of Los Angeles are entitled to payment of the applicable minimum wage under ...

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) recently issued a new Certification of Health Care Provider form that employers may use for medical certification when an employee requests leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) or the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), due to the employee’s or the employee’s family member’s serious health condition.

This form is particularly useful to California employers for the reason that, unlike the Department of Labor FMLA health care provider certification forms, the DFEH form excludes questions ...

Q: I am a receiver, but not an attorney. During the receivership some legal matters came up and I used my in-house counsel and an outside attorney to handle the matters. My order of appointment states I can hire attorneys, but does not specifically state who. I have filed my final account and report and the defendant is objecting, stating my attorneys are not entitled to be paid because there was no court order specifically authorizing their employment. Was that necessary?

A: Yes. California Rules of Court, Rule 3.1180 states: “A receiver must not employ an attorney without the approval ...

A recent California Court of Appeal ruling significantly expands the conditions under which the reporting time pay rule in California will apply. Skylar Ward v. Tilly’s, Inc. involved retail clothing store workers who were assigned on-call shifts, but did not know if they must report to work for each shift until they made a required call to the employer two (2) hours in advance of the shift.

Under all California Wage Orders, including Wage Order No. 7 that applies to retail workers, reporting time pay must be paid for each workday an employee is required to report for work and does ...

Senate Bill 1343, which became effective on January 1, 2019, requires that every California employer with at least five employees or independent contractors provide two hours of interactive harassment and abusive conduct prevention training for their managers and supervisors, and conduct this training thereafter every two years and within six months of a person’s placement into a supervisory or management position. SB 1343 also requires that these employers provide interactive harassment training to their non-supervisory employees of at least one hour, and thereafter ...

Last year, the United States Supreme Court ruled that class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements are enforceable.  But, the ruling did not address an agreement that is silent or ambiguous regarding the intent to proceed as a class.

This issue was recently resolved by Lamps Plus v. Varela, in which the United States Supreme Court held that under the Federal Arbitration Act, a court may not compel class arbitration unless the parties have expressed their clear consent.

This case involved an arbitration clause that was ambiguous regarding the parties’ intent to ...

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a proposal to increase the minimum salary required to qualify as exempt from overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new rule would apply to the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. Specifically, the proposed increase would raise the minimum annual salary required for exempt status from $23,360 to $35,308, and increase the weekly salary rate from $455 to $679.  Employers would be permitted to include “nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments” for up to 10% of the ...

As you know by now, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) is California’s groundbreaking legislation that grants California residents unprecedented rights and protections regarding the collection and use of their personal information. While the breadth and scope of the CCPA is readily transparent, California’s Attorney General (“AG”) is still in the process of adopting regulations to help implement the act. The AG is currently accepting comments in a series of public forums that began in January, and the California Department of Justice recently ...