On September 30, 2010, California Governor Arnold Schwartznegger signed Assembly Bill 569 into law, exempting certain categories of unionized employees from California’s meal period laws. AB 569, authored and championed by Senator Bill Emmerson, will take effect January 1, 2011. Prior to the introduction of AB 569, existing labor law prohibited employers from requiring an employee to work more than 5 hours per day without providing a mandatory “off-duty” meal period, subject to certain poorly-articulated exceptions. AB 569 amends Labor Code § 512 to clarify those occupations exempted from meal period requirements, including those within the following industries: ·          Construction ·          Commercial driving ·          Security services ·          Wholesale baking ·          Motion picture ·          Broadcasting ·          Electrical or gas corporation ·          Local publicly owned electric utility To qualify for exemption under the new law, the employees in question must be covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”).  More>>

Mike Rutti sought to bring a class action on behalf of all technicians employed by Lojack, Inc., who spent time commuting to worksites in Lojack’s vehicles. The district court granted Lojack summary judgment, holding that Rutti’s commute was not compensable as a matter of law. More>>