In response to concerns that California employers were stealing workers' wages, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 469 (“A.B. 469”) on October 9, 2011.  A.B. 469 requires private employers in California to provide written notice to non-exempt hires of critical employment information, including the employer’s legal name, physical and mailing addresses, payroll dates, and workers’ compensation carrier, as well the new hire's wage rate and basis of pay.  If any of this information changes after the original notice is given, A.B. 469 requires the employer to provide a subsequent written notice containing all of the required information.  This represents a major change in California law that goes into effect on January 1, 2012. 

On October 4, 2011, the California Supreme Court announced that it would hear oral argument in the long-awaited and much-anticipated meal and rest break case, Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court, on November 8, 2011.  This means that by early 2012 California employers will know the answer to this multi-million dollar question -- do employers merely have to make meal and rest breaks available to their employees, or do employers have to go further and ensure that their employees take those breaks?    

According to a new decision by the California Court of Appeal, restaurants and other employers who call mandatory employee meetings and require off-duty employees to attend are required to pay off-duty employees only 2 hours of reporting time pay.  This decision answered the previously open question of whether the off-duty employee was entitled to only 2 hours of pay or the greater amount equal to half of his usual shift.  The decision is Price v. Starbucks Corp., 192 Cal. App. 4th 1136 (2011). 

On February 24, 2011, a divided California Supreme Court ruled in Sonic Calabasas v. Moreno that a worker who signs an otherwise valid arbitration agreement is still free to file and pursue administrative claims with the California Labor Commissioner for unpaid wages.  The legislature bestowed too many important, fundamental benefits on employees when they created the Labor Commissioner framework; therefore, asking workers to waive those benefits by requiring that they sign a mandatory arbitration agreement violates California public policy and is unconscionable.