Labor Code Section 1197.5 has been amended by SB 358 and will become effective on January 1, 2016. The law prohibits employers, including school and community college districts, from paying an employee wage rates less than rates paid to the opposite sex for “substantially similar work.” The work ...
Effective January 1, 2016, Education Code section 35012 regarding student representation on governing boards maintaining one or more high schools is amended to provide:1. The governing board has 60 days after receipt of a petition for pupil representation to include the nonvoting student within t...
For the past several years, school districts throughout the State of California have increasingly utilized the lease-leaseback contracting method to complete their new construction and modernization projects. Since 1957, the Legislature has provided an exemption to the normal design-bid-build com...
In a letter dated February 23, 2015, the United States Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (“OSEP) stated that when a parent disagrees with a school district evaluation because a child was not assessed in a particular area, the parent has the right to...
In Ollier v. Sweetwater Union High Sch. Dist., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 18020 (9th Cir. Cal. Sept. 19, 2014) U.S.C.A. 9th, DAR p. 12983, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a high school failed to provide or expand equal participation to female athletes in accordance with Title IX. Female stud...
When an employer determines that an employee may not be able to do his or her job due to a physical or mental condition, a fitness for duty (FFD) examination is the remedy. But what happens when the employee asserts rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities...
On June 27, 2012, the Governor signed Senate Bill (SB) 1016, which in part amended Government Code section 65995.7 to make the authorization for “Level 3” developer fees inoperative through December 31, 2014, regardless of the status of state funding, except under two circumstances. With the Legi...
Click here to access Parker & Covert LLP's legal guidance on the duty of school districts to protect students against bullying following the case of Hector F. v. El Centro Elementary School District, et al.
SB 854 (Chapter 28, Statutes of 2014) was signed into law and became effective immediately on June 20, 2014. SB 854 establishes a new public works contractor registration program. These changes are at Labor Code sections 1725.5 – 1776. All contractors and subcontractors intending to be qualified ...
Click here to access Parker & Covert LLP's June 4, 2014 guidance on the Affordable Care Act: Transition Rules for Educational Organizations.
In In re J.D. (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 709 [170 Cal.Rptr.3d 464], the Court of Appeal held that a school's search of lockers in an area frequented by a student suspected of an off-campus shooting was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.While on duty at the school, a Richmond High School campus s...
In Nathan G. v. Clovis Unified School District, the California Court of Appeal recently held that a school district can involuntarily transfer a student to continuation high school, without having to exhaust all other means of correction. Education Code section 48432.5 states in pertinent part: “...
The California Court of Appeal recently held that the California Public Records Act (“Act”) does not require access to communications between public officials using exclusively private cell phones or e-mail accounts. These private communications sent or received by public officials and employees ...
Click here to access Parker & Covert LLP's Legal Guidance Letter from March 18, 2014.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently determined that a university professor's writings and comments on proposed department reorganization required an analysis under the First Amendment. By so concluding, the appellate court reversed the lower court's decision that the professor's speech did ...
The State Allocation Board, at its January 22, 2014 meeting, approved an increase in “level 1” developer fees from $3.20 to $3.36 per square foot on new residential development and residential additions of over 500 square feet, and from $0.51 to $0.54 per square foot on new commercial and industr...
The State Board of Education on January 15, 2014 issued new regulations to implement S.B. 1404 from 2012, authorizing school districts to impose Civic Center Act user fees that include costs of maintenance, repair, restoration, and refurbishment of school facilities or grounds in proportion to th...
Parker and Covert LLP, through its Northern and Southern California offices, provides comprehensive legal representation to school districts, community colleges, and other educational clients in communities throughout the state of California.