Meet our newest partner in the Orange County office, Gouya Ranekouhi! Gouya has been with the Labor & Employment litigation team at O’Hagan Meyer since July 2018.

This past November, the O’Hagan Meyer Diversity and Inclusion Community Outreach Action Team recognized the growing hunger rate across the country and responded by organizing a firm-wide food drive across all offices.

The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule clarifying the standard for determining independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Once again, the DOL has reaffirmed the “economic reality” test as the benchmark for determining whether a worker should be treated as an employee or independent contractor.

With the recent approval of COVID-19 vaccines and anticipated rollout of inoculations nationwide, employers have begun to ask for guidance regarding whether they can compel employees to receive the vaccinations. On December 16, 2020, the EEOC released guidance confirming that employers may require their employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 before returning to work.

As the pandemic forces our lives and livelihoods online, expect 2021 to be a hotbed of data privacy litigation and legislation. California expands legislation (CCPA and CPRA) to strengthen protections against the exposure and sale of personal information online. Other states are likely to follow suit in the decade to come.

Companies are putting pressure on their human resources departments and recruitment programs to ramp up the diversity of their workforce.  Before charging forward, it is best to pause to review the permissibility and effectiveness of recruiting programs, employment tests, and selection procedures. 

This month, Richmond partner Bob Yates is the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys spotlighted member.

When employees are ready to return to work from military service, USERRA requires immediate action to put them back on the employment payrolls. Employers shouldn’t hesitate.

SB 1383 signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 17, 2020, expands the CFRA to private employers of five or more employees and eliminates the requirement that employees work within 75 miles of the worksite.

O’Hagan Meyer represented the Gymboree Group, Inc. and affiliates against claims by Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, in an Adversary Proceeding in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, arising from one of the largest retailer Chapter 11 cases filed in recent years. All defendants prevailed on motions for summary judgment, on all claims, resulting in dismissal of the entire case, by memorandum opinion.