Employment Law Blog

District court erred by dismissing complaint for violation of Title VII and Age Discrimination Act, because complaint and attached exhibits did not obviously state when former employee learned of the alleged discriminatory acts and whether his contact with the investigator was timely.  Daniels v. Donahoe, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 17268 (9th Cir. Sept. 21, 2016)....

District court did not err by granting summary judgment against race and gender discrimination claim, because employee did not show employer treated similarly situated employees who were not a member of his class differently.  Lal Dev v. EFB Patrick R. Donahoe, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 17011 (9th Cir. Sept. 16, 2016). District court erred by...

District court erred by deciding whether drivers' arbitration agreements were enforceable, because that question was clearly delegated to the arbitrator.  Court venue provisions for actions to enforce arbitration agreements and obtain other remedies did not make the arbitration agreements ambiguous.  The drivers' right to opt out of the agreements prevented them from being procedurally unconscionable....

District court did not err by certifying class of domestic farm workers who claimed farm employer violated Agricultural Workers Protection Act by failing to inform them of the availability of agricultural work performed by temporary foreign workers under the federal H-2A visa program, and failed to pay the domestic workers the same wage as foreign...

Court of Appeals was skeptical of disability insurer's denial of benefits, because independent physician consultants on which insurer relied performed substantial numbers of reviews for and received significant compensation from the insurer.  Insurer therefore had burden of maintaining records on the reviewer's findings on claims to show their neutrality in practice.  Insurer abused its discretion...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Seller's employees were not entitled to past service credit under the plain terms of the buyer's retirement plan.  Seller's employees could seek reformation of the plan based on claim buyer breached fiduciary duty by not adequately informing them they were not entitled to past service credit.  Seller's employees could...

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court did not err in issuing a preliminary injunction against employee's attempt to arbitrate employment claims, pending litigation of the claims.  Court correctly decided whether employee waived his right to arbitrate his employment claims by litigating them, because the parties did not agree to submit the issue to...

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court erred by granting summary judgment against ADEA retaliation claim, because employee received hostile treatment from supervisor shortly after he agreed to testify on behalf of a coworker's ADEA claim, and employee offered evidence suggesting his negative performance reviews, supervisor's hostility towards him and ultimate decision to fire him...

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court erred by granting summary judgment against claim for long term disability benefits, because psychiatrists determined former employee could not work in any occupation, not just her own occupation limiting benefits to 18 months.  Plan's later denial of benefits past 18 months inadequately explained what evidence former employee could...

The district court properly granted summary judgment against disparate treatment based on disability claim, because employee failed to show her compensation level was connected to her disability or other employees were paid more but less qualified and experienced, and she failed to show the employer's reason for the pay disparity was pretextual.  The district court...