California Municipal Law Blog
by Elizabeth Perez on July 8, 2018
posted in
Propositions 13/26/218, Recent Court Decisions, Uncategorised,
The electorate does not have a fundamental right to vote on an assessment levied upon a specific group of taxpayers for a limited (non-general governmental) purpose, a California Appellate court found in Reid et al. v. City of San Diego et al. In Reid, plaintiffs challenged a two percent assessment levied on lodging businesses operating in the City with 70 or more sleeping rooms by the City of San Diego Tourism Marketing District (TMD) to fund coordinated joint marketing and promotional activities for tourism development as violative of Proposition 26 and the Equal Protection Clause, among ... Continue Reading
tags:
Proposition 26, tourism marketing district,
by Anita Bamshad on June 14, 2018
posted in
Employment Law, Recent Court Decisions,
Paid administrative leave may be considered an adverse employment action, a California Appellate court found in Whitehall v. Cty. of San Bernardino. In Whitehall, the plaintiff was employed by San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (CFS) and was assigned to investigate a case in which a nine-month old baby died under suspicious circumstances. Plaintiff obtained the police report which showed the deceased child and four other children were living uninhabitable conditions. The report contained photographs of children with ligature and burn marks. However, the CFS deputy director instructed ... Continue Reading
tags:
Administrative Leave, Adverse Employment Action, Whistleblower Laws,
by Sunny Huynh on May 17, 2018
posted in
Recent Court Decisions,
The First Appellate District recently issued a decision confirming that California law generally prohibits the deposition of a highly placed public officer absent a limited exception to that rule. The two-pronged exception applies when: (1) the high-ranking official has personal knowledge relating to material issues in the lawsuit and (2) the deposing party demonstrates the information to be gained is not available from any other source. The reasoning behind the general rule of prohibiting the depositions of high ranking officials is to prevent such proceedings from consuming an officials’ ... Continue Reading
tags:
Contractors State Licensing Board, Deposition, Litigation,
by Anita Bamshad on April 15, 2018
posted in
Employee Benefits, Family and Medical Leave,
As national discourse around women’s pay equality came to the forefront in 2017, Governor Brown signed several bills in an effort to create a more egalitarian workplace. One such measure came in the form of Senate Bill 63, otherwise known as the New Parental Leave Act, which became effective January 1, 2018. Under prior law, employers with 50 or more employees were required to provide job-protected parental leave. Now employers with at least 20 employees within 75 miles must allow employees with (1) more than 12 months of service with the employer and (2) that have worked at least 1,250 hours ... Continue Reading
tags:
Family and Medical Leave, FMLA, SB 63,
by Sunny Huynh on March 13, 2018
posted in
Law Enforcement, Legislative Updates, Uncategorised,
On March 7, 2018, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a lawsuit challenging California’s “sanctuary” state laws. This is only one in a series of actions that Attorney General Sessions’ has taken to curtail “sanctuary” efforts in the United States.
While the term “sanctuary” city or state does not have a precise definition, it generally refers to a jurisdiction that limits its cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The idea behind a “sanctuary” city or state is to reduce the fear of deportation among immigrants living in a jurisdiction illegally, ... Continue Reading
tags:
AB 103, AB 450, Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, Jeff Sessions, Sanctuary City, SB 54,
