Coming Next in the California Labor and Employment Law Review

For many, the term “intersectionality” remains a polysyllabic puzzlement. But since California took the lead last year in passing AB 1137, employee and employer advocates can no longer hide in the haze. It codifies the concept of intersectionality in the state’s laws, including the Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibiting discrimination “not just because of one protected basis, but also because of the intersection of two or more protected bases.” In July’s issue of the Law Review, Menaka N. Fernando (partner at Outten & Golden) and N. Richard Schreiba (associate at Burke, Williams & Sorensen), deftly explain what that might mean from both sides of the employee/employer aisle. As an added bonus, Christina Ro-Connolly (partner at Oppenheimer Investigations Group) describes the challenges and rewards that workplace investigators face when dealing with intersectional complaints.

You can snag MCLE credit just for smartening up on this timely issue by digesting the piece and then applying for self-study credit.

Another heads up: A California appellate court recently decided Bradsbery v Vicar Operating, Inc., a case of first impression taking on the issue of whether prospective blanket meal break waivers are valid absent evidence of unconscionability or coercion. Jennifer S. Grock (partner at Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo) explains how the court’s answer to that question will likely affect how some workplaces conduct business going forward.

The July issue also includes the usual summaries of cases and topics of interest by practitioners in the know:

• California Employment Law Notes (Anthony J. Oncidi)
• Wage and Hour Case Notes (Lauren Teukolsky)
• Public Sector Case Notes (Katharine McDonagh and Max Sinclair)
• NLRA Case Notes (Jeffrey S. Bosley and Monica Rodriguez)
• ADR Update (Jonathan D. Andrews), and
• Cases Pending Before the California Supreme Court (Phyllis Chen).

And Christina Ro-Connolly, current chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section, weighs in again with her message—this one urging readers to keep up the optimistic spirit many showed during the most recent Law Day, especially important during the “unprecedented challenges to legal norms and institutional independence at the highest levels of federal government.”

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