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Katelyn Sullivan

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Katelyn Sullivan focuses her practice on employment litigation and counseling, representing clients in a wide range of cases involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, the Americans with Disabilities Act and wage and hour issues.

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In the latest development in California’s evolving independent contractor laws, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new ordinance that provides protections for certain independent contractors providing services in Los Angeles. Beginning on July 1, 2023, the Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance (Ordinance) requires that any contract between a hiring entity and a freelance worker valued at $600 or more (either by itself or when combined with previous written or oral contracts between the parties in a given calendar year) be in writing and include, among other things: (1) an itemization of all services the freelance worker provides, (2) the value of the services to be provided pursuant to the contract, and (3) the date by which the entity must pay the contracted compensation or the manner by which that payment date will be determined. Under the Ordinance, a freelance worker is an individual natural person, or an entity whose interests are entirely held by and whose work is performed entirely by no more than one individual natural person. A hiring entity is defined as an entity regularly engaged in business or commercial activity, including a nonprofit business, but excluding companies that hire app-based transportation and delivery drivers to provide prearranged services.…

Continue Reading Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance for Independent Contractors in Los Angeles

As reported earlier this year, California’s state minimum wage increased to $15.50 per hour for all employers on January 1, 2023. However, some California employers may face another minimum wage increase on July 1, 2023. This is due to the adoption by many cities and counties in California of their own local minimum wage rates above the California state minimum wage for employees working within their jurisdiction. If a locality provides a higher minimum wage rate than the state rate, the employer must pay the higher local wage rate.…

Continue Reading Minimum Wage Increases To Take Place on July 1, 2023, for Some California Localities

The City of Los Angeles’ Fair Work Week Ordinance will take effect on April 1, 2023. Generally, the Fair Work Week Ordinance requires retail businesses in Los Angeles with 300 employees or more to follow certain scheduling restrictions. The ordinance applies to businesses in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) within the retail trade categories…

Over the past several years, California has gradually increased the state’s minimum wage rate, resulting in the most recent increase, effective January 1, 2023, to $15.50 per hour for all employers. This minimum wage rate applies to all employees, subject to a few limited exceptions. This increase also affects the minimum annual salary requirement for exempt employees. Under California law, exempt employees must be paid a threshold annual salary of two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment. Accordingly, effective January 1, 2023, the minimum salary for otherwise exempt employees increased to $64,480.00 a year.…

Continue Reading California Minimum Wage Requirements Effective January 1, 2023

In November 2022, the Los Angeles City Council passed the Fair Work Week Ordinance, which requires retail businesses in Los Angeles with 300 employees or more to follow certain scheduling restrictions. The ordinance applies to businesses in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) within the retail trade categories and subcategories 44 through 45. It covers employees who work at least two hours per workweek within the city of Los Angeles and are entitled to minimum wage under California law.…

Continue Reading Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance Imposes New Wage and Hour Requirements for Certain Retail Businesses

On October 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the Proposed Rule) that provides guidance on determining employee or independent contractor classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Proper classifications are significant because independent contractors are not afforded wage-and-hour protections under the FLSA and/or applicable state law, such as minimum wage for all hours worked or overtime compensation for over 40 hours worked in one workweek. Misclassification can subject companies and organizations to class and collective actions and expose them to significant liability.…

Continue Reading US Department of Labor Proposes Independent Contractor Rule

Governor Gavin Newsom signed California’s Senate Bill 1162, a pay transparency law aimed at identifying pay disparities based on gender, ethnicity, and race, on September 27, 2022. The bill expands employers’ obligations to report pay data and requires certain employers to disclose salary ranges for employees and positions available to applicants.…

Continue Reading California Governor Signs New Pay Data and Salary Disclosure Bill

In February 2022, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California denied defendant park operators’ motion to dismiss in part, finding that plaintiffs adequately pleaded joint defender liability along with their claims for meal and rest break violations, but granted without leave to amend plaintiffs’ claims for minimum and overtime wages and inaccurate wage statements. Plaintiffs’ second amended complaint alleges, among other things, that the “spread-out structure” of defendants’ facilities and the “practice of understaffing these facilities” impeded plaintiffs from taking rest breaks, that defendants did not schedule sufficient employees to relieve nonexempt employees during their meal and rest breaks, and that plaintiffs “often” worked overtime hours, but were not paid for all overtime hours worked.
Continue Reading Eastern District of California Finds Joint Employer Liability Sufficiently Alleged and Permits Meal and Rest Break Claims to Proceed

On October 18, 2021, Plaintiff Ysa Santana Reynoso (Reynoso), a former employee of pork processor Hatfield Quality Meats, Inc. (Hatfield), filed a class action lawsuit before a state court in Pennsylvania against Hatfield seeking unpaid wages under the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (PMWA) for time spent undergoing mandatory COVID-19 screenings.
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Continue Reading Employee Asserts Claims of Uncompensated COVID-19 Screening Practice

In October 2019, Ralph “Trey” Johnson filed a putative class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and a number of universities alleging that college student-athletes are employees who are entitled to pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Judge John R. Padova ordered the parties to submit supplemental briefing on the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss in light of the Supreme Court’s June 21, 2021 opinion in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston. The Alston decision held that the NCAA could not bar certain education-related benefits (such as tutors or computers) and left open the door for a direct challenge to the NCAA’s prohibition on paying athletes.
Continue Reading Student Athletes Oppose Motion to Dismiss FLSA Claims in Light of Supreme Court’s Alston Opinion