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DoorDash couriers, or “Dashers,” bring take-out from our favorite restaurants to our doorsteps, brightening our day, and meriting tips symbolizing our gratitude. Whether customers tip generously or not, we expect our tokens of that gratitude to reach the workers who bring us convenience with our orders.

Cases and deaths associated with COIVD-19 have  spiked everywhere in the United States, including in the State of California over the preceding month. On December 1, 2020, the state’s Office of Administrative Law granted final approval to a slate of emergency COVID-19 safety regulations.

Even champions must fight for equal rights. On March 8, 2019, iconic women’s soccer players Alex Morgan (#13), Megan Rapinoe (#15), Carlie Lloyd (#10), and twenty-four other world champions filed a class action against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of former and current players on the U.S. Women’s National Team (WNT).

On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced changes to its religious bias guidance that could make it easier for employers to defend against workplace discrimination claims.

On November 5, 2020, in Martinez-Cuevas et al., v. Deruyter Brothers Dairy, Inc. et al., the Washington Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that Washington’s 60-year exclusion of dairy workers from overtime pay after 40 hours of work is unconstitutional because the Washington State constitution contains “a fundamental right for Washington workers to health and safety protections” that is embedded in overtime laws.

On November 9, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) clarified the steps unions must take to demonstrate mail-ballot elections are appropriate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General, wage theft is “rampant” in DC’s construction industry, as contractors gain “undue advantage” in contract bidding on the backs of workers.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) requires employers provide a nursing employee with a reasonable break to express breast milk, each time the employee needs to express, for one year after the child’s birth. Employers are not required to pay employees for time spent expressing milk.

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented uncertainty into the workplace, as employees across the country fight to enhance safety policies and protections, highlighting the importance of legal protections for workers who report unsafe conditions due to COVID-19 and problems in asserting special sick leave protections, and preventing employers from retaliating against workers in exercising their legal rights.

Employers may not rely on an employee’s past salary as a defense to claims alleging unequal pay on the basis of sex, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Equal Pay Act, which requires equal pay for equal work, allows employers to present affirmative defenses for disparate pay, which include seniority, merit, productivity systems, and any factor other than sex.