Ninth Circuit Certifies California Labor Questions to California Supreme Court

Posted: Wednesday, February 18, 2009

By: David M. Kight

Topic: Non-Compete Cases

***UPDATE***  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 certified three questions to the California Supreme Court in the wake of its decision in November that California's Labor Code applies to all residents and non-residents of California. The opinion certifying the questions can be found here:  http://tinyurl.com/colxns

The initial opinion was a significant ruling that the California Labor Code applies to workers who only briefly or temporarily work in California. Employers who do not operate in California, but occasionally send employees to California would have an entirely new set of wage and hour laws to contend with if the Ninth Circuit's original opinion is upheld.  Though not explicitly stated by the Court, but certainly implied is the application of the anti-non-compete provisions of the California Labor Code to non-resident employees.  A non-resident of California who works in California for even a single day for the company may now have their non-compete voided under California's Labor Code. Read our prior write up here:  http://tinyurl.com/bccubw. 

We will be watching this case as it proceeds.  A copy of the original opinion,  Sullivan v. Oracle Corp., No. 06-56649, 2008 WL 4811911 (9th Cir. Nov. 6, 2008),  can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/colxns.