Can California Employers Mitigate Wage and Hour Risks with An Arbitration Agreement?

Brett Sutton and Jared Hague talk about the recent Wage and Hour ruling in the Viking River Cruise case, and talk about what California employers need to be aware of when it comes to class-action cases. If you’re a California employer, then this is an episode you won’t want to miss as it has some new information about the recent court ruling that could affect California-state specific employers going forward. 

 

Highlights:

• California has one of the strictest wage and hour rules in the entire country.
• There are frequent class action cases filed in California and it really hurts employers. 
• There are two types of penalties employers can fall under with the wage and hour law. 
• Can employees sign an arbitration agreement to help mitigate the risk on the employer? 
• What is an arbitration agreement in a nutshell? 
• What can be covered in an arbitration agreement between employer and employee?
• If you don’t have these certain key bullet points within your arbitration agreement that doesn’t include all these features, then it might not be enforceable.
• Employers can not require employees to enter into an arbitration agreement as a condition of their employment. 
• What do you need to know about the AB51 law? 
• Employers can include a class action waiver in their arbitration agreement. 
• Let’s talk about the Viking River Cruise case. 
• Every California employer should take arbitration agreements seriously. 
• California law requires you to pay for the arbitration. That’s not a small amount, especially if a group of employees bring a class-action arbitration against you. 
• An arbitration agreement with a class action waiver is as close as you can get to being protected. 
• A very minor infraction in the California laws can just snowball into a big monster for an employer. 
• The best thing you can do is make sure you’re in compliance with California Wage and Hour laws.

 

Resources:

Suttonhague.com

Calnevalaw.com