In the News

Jury Award of $120 Million for Unpaid Overtime Upheld in Favor of Insurance Claims Representatives

Bell v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 2004 Cal. LEXIS 4135, May 12, 2004. The Court of Appeal affirmed the earlier judgment that the claims representatives were non-exempt employees since they were “production workers” and did not meet the exempt necessary to qualify as exempt administrative employees. The Appellate Court also held that the trial court had not abused its discretion in certifying the matter as a class action.

California Supreme Court Holds Employer Strictly Liable for the Harassment of an Employee By One of its Supervisors.

State Department of Health Services v. Superior Court, 31 Cal. 4th 1026 (2003). Plaintiff suffered physical and verbal harassment by her supervisor from early 1996 to late 1997. The Court analyzed the statutory language of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) and found that it differed from its federal counterpart Title VII. As a result, the Court held that “under FEHA, an employer is strictly liable for all acts of sexual harassment by a supervisor.” However, the Court also held that employers may limit their damages by pleading and proving that: (1) the employer took reasonable steps to prevent and correct the workplace sexual harassment; (2) the employee unreasonably failed to use the preventive and corrective measures that the employer provided” and (3) reasonable use of the employer’s procedures would have prevented at least some of the harm that the employee suffered.

Whistleblower Claims Under Sarbanes Oxley Corporate Reform Act of 2002 Held Not to be Exempt from Mandatory Industry Arbitration.

Boss v. Salomon Smith Barney, Inc., 263 F. Supp. 684 (S.D.N.Y. 2003).

Plaintiff argued that because the Act conferred jurisdiction on the Federal courts to hear whistleblower claims under the act, that such claims were not to be arbitrated. The district court summarily rejected plaintiff’s argument stating that “[t]here is nothing in the text of the statute or the legislative history of the Sarbanes-Oxley act evincing intent to preempt arbitration of claims under the Act.