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James M. Nelson is Co-Chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s ERISA & Employee Benefits Litigation group. He represents employers and ERISA plan fiduciaries in matters concerning ERISA compliance, fiduciary responsibility, collective bargaining, wage and hour, employee benefits, safety, discrimination, wrongful termination, and other labor and employment issues. His experience includes complex litigation, class action defense, administrative proceedings, and appeals, as well as advice and counseling to ERISA plan fiduciaries of single-employer and multi-employer plans. He counsels clients on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) matters including litigation as well as compliance, due diligence reviews, and safety and health audits. James has counseled clients in numerous industries, including construction, transportation, health care, hospitality, manufacturing, and publishing.

California recently enacted an employee recall law that may substantially affect employers in the tourism and travel industries amid the emerging post-Covid-19 economy. On the heels of Governor Gavin Newsom’s
Continue Reading A Recall to Arms after Covid-19 – Some California Employers Must Offer Rehire to Laid-off Employees

On Nov. 30, 2020, the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved Cal-OSHA’s emergency Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) safety regulations (Regulations). Since then, Cal-OSHA has issued a model prevention program and
Continue Reading Update: The Office of Administrative Law Approves Cal-OSHA Emergency COVID-19 Regulations

On Nov. 19, 2020, the California Occupational Health & Safety Standards Board unanimously adopted 21 pages of emergency Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) safety regulations (Regulations). The Regulations are broad. They
Continue Reading Cal-OSHA Adopts Emergency COVID-19 Regulations

Gov. Newsom signed 870 bills into law and vetoed 172. Fortunately, not all of them were labor and employment related. This GT Alert provides an overview of the new employment-related
Continue Reading California Labor & Employment Legislative Update 2019 – Spoiler Alert, Things Have Not Moderated

After the California Second District Court of Appeal’s Oct. 8, 2019, decision in Gonzales v. San Gabriel Transit, Inc., brought as a garden variety wage and hour class action
Continue Reading We May Not Have Until January to Sort Out AB5: Update on Dynamex Retroactivity

There are myriad special rules for employers operating in California, and even more were signed into law last term. 2018 was Jerry Brown’s last year of his second “two-term” round
Continue Reading 2018 Year in Review: California L&E

What does Winston Churchill have to do with California wage and hour requirements? Well, the “shot” at employers in Soto v. Motel 6 Operating L.P. at the California Court of
Continue Reading “Nothing so Exhilarating as Being Shot at Without Result”—California Pay Day Statements and Accrued Vacation