Archive for category: News Items

On January 6, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a published opinion affirmed a $55 million California minimum wage judgment in favor of a class of Wal-Mart, Inc.’s California truck drivers, in Ridgeway v. WalMart, Inc., Ninth Cir. Nos. 17-15983, 17-16142.  Following a 16-day trial in 2016, a jury found that Wal-Mart failed to pay minimum wages required by California law to its California-based truck drivers for time they spent engaged in pre- and post-trip inspections, rest breaks, and during mandatory “layover” periods, during which Wal-Mart exercised control over the drivers by prohibiting them from returning home without management permission.  The 11-year class period covered the time from October 2004 to October 2015. 

After Wal-Mart appealed, Altshuler Berzon LLP was brought in by the class and trial counsel to defend the verdict on appeal.  The Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment against Wal-Mart in its entirety, rejecting Wal-Mart’s numerous arguments, which challenged the trial court’s jurisdiction, partial summary judgment and class certification decisions, and jury instructions, and raised other arguments under California and federal law.

You can read the Court’s decision here.

The Daily Journal recognized Altshuler Berzon LLP as one of the top boutique firms in California.  The Journal highlighted the firm’s work on ground-breaking cases such as the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision protecting workers misclassified as independent contractors, litigation in Florida to protect voting rights, and cases seeking to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for climate change-related harms to public infrastructure.

You can find a PDF of the Daily Journal article here.

On May 17, 2019, the Alameda County Superior Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction in TWU Local 556, et al. v. Southwest Airlines Co., Case No. RG-18933251, requiring Southwest Airlines Co. to permit its California-based flight attendants to use their accrued sick leave to care for ill family members, in accordance with the “kin care” provisions of California Labor Code §233 and sick leave ordinances in Oakland and Los Angeles.  Altshuler Berzon LLP is representing the plaintiffs in the case and brought the preliminary injunction motion.

In granting the motion, the Court rejected Southwest’s affirmative defenses, which sought to preclude application of California and local labor protections laws to its flight attendants, who often travel outside the state in the course of a work day.  The Court found that Southwest’s California-based flight attendants who start and end all trips in California, and perform more work in California than in any other state, are likely entitled to the protections of California law.

As a result of the preliminary injunction, Southwest can no longer deny its flight attendants their “kin care” rights or discipline them for exercising those rights.  You can read the Court’s order here.

On May 10, 2019, the federal court for the Northern District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction under Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act requiring Florida’s Secretary of State to direct the Supervisors of Elections in 32 Florida counties to provide Spanish-language election assistance—including Spanish-language or bilingual official ballots, a Spanish-language hotline, and Spanish translations of all official, election materials—for elections beginning with Florida’s March 2020 presidential primary.

This order expands on the preliminary relief the Court previously granted in this case.  In granting broader relief, the Court explained:  “This case is about the fundamental right to cast an effective ballot.  Voters educated in Puerto Rico bring this suit to enforce the plain provisions of the Voting Rights Act’s Section 4(e).  This straightforward law has been on the books for 54 years. In this action, this Court is ensuring compliance with Congress’s clear directives.”

The name of the case is Marta Rivera Madera, et al., v. Laurel M. Lee, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-152-MW/GRJ (N.D. Fla.).  Altshuler Berzon LLP, along with co-counsel from Demos, LatinoJustice, and SEIU, are representing Plaintiffs Marta Rivera Madera, Faith in Florida, Hispanic Federation, Mi Familia Vota, UnidosUS, and Vamos4PR in the case.

You can read the Court’s order here.

You can read more about the case here.

Altshuler Berzon LLP has filed charges on behalf of workers at McDonald’s who have come forward in the wake of the #MeToo movement to allege they have been sexually harassed at work.  Together with co-counsel, and with the financial support of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund™, the firm has filed EEOC and state-level charges on behalf of eleven women and is continuing to investigate additional reported incidents of harassment at McDonald’s.  The workers Altshuler Berzon represents are asking the EEOC to investigate not only the individual franchises where they work, but also McDonald’s Corporate, and to do so on a nationwide systemic level.  On September 18, 2018, McDonald’s workers in ten cities – including some of the workers Altshuler Berzon represents – participated in strikes organized by the Fight for $15 that demanded that McDonald’s take steps necessary to end pervasive sexual harassment of its employees, including by providing adequate training and a safe and confidential reporting mechanism and by strengthening and enforcing their existing policies, among other demands.