Uncategorized

Two laws protecting marijuana users will come into effect in California in the new year. The first, AB 2188, prohibits employers from taking any adverse action against employees who have used marijuana off-the-job and away from the workplace, or who test positive for the presence of marijuana in their system in a way that indicates they have recently used marijuana, but were not under the influence at the time of the test.

On December 12, 2023, a California jury agreed that Kaiser Permanente fired neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse Maria Gatchalian in retaliation for raising concerns regarding patient health and safety and awarded her approximately $41.5 million in damages.

Starting on January 1, 2024, Maryland’s minimum wage will increase to $15.00 per hour for all employees. This increased the minimum wage by $1. This increase to the minimum wage marks the end of a gradual increase to Maryland’s minimum wage over the past few years.

The Washington, D.C. – based human rights non-profit, Freedom Now, announces its new Executive Director – Andrea J. Prasow.

A state judge in Los Angeles, California, certified a class of nearly 9,000 women who say that The Walt Disney Company paid them less than their male colleagues. The plaintiffs requested the judge certify a class of women employed by Disney in California in positions below the level of vice president between April 2015 and the present under the California Equal Pay Act.

On June 22, 2023, a Southern District of Iowa district court judge granted preliminary approval of a $15,000,000.00 class action settlement for wage and hour claims brought by University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (“UIHC”) employees. The final settlement approval hearing is currently set for August 28, 2023.

MSE Managing Partner Greg McGillivary answers “What’s New on the Wage and Hour Front?” in the latest edition

On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a final rule updating the standard for determining when an entity is a joint employer that will have to come to the bargaining table under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

On October 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved as final a $4.25 million class action settlement in the case of Heckle v. Matrix Absence Management, Inc., Case No. 7:21-cv-1463. Plaintiff Erica Heckle and the Class of 203 Disability Benefits Claims Examiners who worked in Matrix’s Hawthorne, NY office were represented by MSE attorneys Molly A. Elkin and Sarah M. Block.

On October 17, 2023, a class of current and former Yale New Haven Hospital employees informed the court that they had reached an agreement in principle to settle their claims that the hospital had failed to properly monitor their 403(b) retirement plan, allowing the plan’s recordkeeper, Fidelity Management Trust Co., to overcharge the plan for its recordkeeping services.