Employers, if Your Employees Stand to Work, You Better Sit Down

Lots of employees work while standing. You see them on an almost daily basis – cashiers in department stores and big box retailers, bank tellers, retail clerks, and numerous other employees performing countless jobs that, on reflection, perhaps could be performed while seated. Why are they standing? The answer, of course, is because their employers instructed them to stand while working. For decades, there has been a provision in various California Industrial Welfare Commission Wage...

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Ninth Circuit: Section 16600 Applies to Settlements

Section 16600 of the California Business and Professions Code prohibits contracts from restraining individuals “from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind.”  While the reach of Section 16600 is broad (recently reaching as far as the  Delaware Court of Chancery), it has traditionally been applied only to employment contracts or agreements that contain non-competition or non-compete clauses where the former employee is prevented from working with a competitor. But what about...

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What is a Forum Selection Clause?

Whether you are drafting a contract or reviewing one before signing it, it is important to understand the significance of a Forum Selection Clause. Although you may never need to use it, in the event of a dispute a Forum Selection Clause may become critical. A forum selection clause is a provision in a contract in which the parties agree that any litigation resulting from that contract will be initiated in a specific forum. In other words, it...

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