Employment Law Blog

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) requires employers to reasonably accommodate their employees’ known disabilities and to engage in a “timely, good faith, interactive process” in order to determine effective reasonable accommodations. Government Code section 12940, subd. (m), (n).

“In the context of a class action, it is the court’s authority and duty to exercise control over the class action to protect the rights of all parties, and to prevent abuses which might undermine the proper administration of justice.” Howard Gunty Profit Sharing Plan v. Superior Court (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 572, 581 (citing Gulf Oil Co. v. Bernard (1981) 452 U.S. 89, 100–103).

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a remedial statute that protects the rights of workers and should not be applied narrowly. Tennessee Coal Iron & R. Co., v. Muscoda Local No. 123, 321 U.S. 590, 597-98 (1944). The FLSA’s purpose is to “eliminate” unfair labor practices because their existence “burdens commerce,” “constitutes an unfair method of competition,” and “leads to labor disputes.” 29 U.S.C. § 202(a)(b). It prohibits “customs and contracts which allow an employer to claim all of an employee’s time while compensating him for only a part of it” and provides employees a private right of action to recover their unpaid wages. Tennessee Coal Iron & R. Co.,321 U.S. at 602.