Description
Castle Publications is excited to announce a new bundle for autumn, featuring two of our best sellers.
Order the Autumn Bundle and save up to 20% off.
Now through December 12th, 2025.
The Autumn Bundle includes:
Castle’s best seller, the 27th Edition of the Wage and Hour Manual for California Employers by Attorney Richard J. Simmons, is the most popular and useful publication in its field. Earlier editions have been cited by courts, government agencies, attorneys, consultants, and HR officials for years.
The Manual is the best source available on California and federal wage and hour laws, including the Labor Code, Wage Orders, court decisions, the FLSA, and DLSE and U.S. DOL enforcement policies. It is an essential, one-stop desk reference for every employer. Among the numerous topics addressed are the following:
• State and federal exemption rules for executive, administrative and professional employees
• California’s new minimum wage rules, including special rules for health care and fast-food employees
• Recent changes in paid sick leave law
• New Supreme Court decisions addressing the definition of “hours worked,” waiting time and wage statement penalties, minimum wages, overtime, and PAGA claims
• Meal and rest period rules & premiums
• Overtime rules
• Independent contractors
• Exemptions
• Time rounding issues
• Alternative workweek schedules
• Pay stub rules
• Commissions, piece-rates & bonuses
• Expense reimbursement requirements
• Reporting time pay
• And much more…
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And the New 2025 edition of California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Litigation and Compliance Manual authored by Richard J. Simmons, Ryan J. Krueger and Tyler J. Johnson of Sheppard Mullin.
PAGA, the “Sue Your Boss Law,” has resulted in costly litigation for thousands of California employers. In the new 2025 edition (over 770 pages), Richard J. Simmons and his team provide an in-depth desk reference that helps employers manage PAGA risks, audit policies and practices, and defend claims. It is the most extensive and useful reference tool on PAGA available and offers insights that are unavailable anywhere else.
Among the numerous topics addressed are the following:
• In-depth analysis of the 2024 PAGA Reform amendments
• The new “Cure” and “Early Case Resolution” provisions
• PAGA’s new penalty structure and penalty mitigation features
• Statistical insights that speak volumes
• Tools for reducing and avoiding penalties
• The most common PAGA claims and traps
• The state’s denunciation of cookie-cutter notices that hide facts and issues
• Distinctions between PAGA and class actions
• The role of arbitration agreements
• New strategies for challenging and limiting PAGA claims
• PAGA’s distinctions between civil penalties, statutory penalties, and wages
• Compliance strategies and checklists
• Critical new rules governing standing and “aggrieved employees”
• The failure of the 2024 amendments to prevent abusive lawsuits
• And much more…
About The Authors
Richard J. Simmons is a Partner in the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles. He represents employers in various employment law matters involving litigation throughout the country and general advice regarding state and federal wage and hour laws, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, employee discipline and termination, employee benefits, affirmative action, union representation proceedings, and arbitrations. Mr. Simmons received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and graduated in the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He received his J.D. from Berkeley Law at the University of California at Berkeley where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Industrial Relations Law Journal, now the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law.
Mr. Simmons argued the only case before the California Supreme Court that produced a victory for employers and business in 2018. He was recently recognized as the Labor and Employment Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles Business Journal and was inducted into the Employment Lawyers Hall of Fame. He has lectured nationally on wage and hour, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, and other employment and labor relations matters. He is a member of the National Advisory Board to the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, published by Berkeley Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He was also appointed by the California Industrial Welfare Commission as a member of three Minimum Wage Boards for the State of California.
Ryan J. Krueger is a Partner with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He specializes in labor and employment matters on behalf of employers, including wage and hour violations, employment discrimination, wrongful termination and sexual harassment. Mr. Krueger has experience in all aspects of employment litigation, including brief writing and oral argument, taking and defending depositions, and negotiating settlements. He has also second chaired multiple trials and arbitrations, and argued before the California Court of Appeal. Mr. Krueger also regularly counsels employers regarding California and federal employment law issues.
Ryan is a co-author of the California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Litigation and Compliance Manual, a contributing author to the Employer’s Guide to COVID-19 and Emerging Workplace Issues and the ALERT Newsletter. He is a co-speaker at the Castle Publications’ Seminars as well as the Labor Law Update for Sheppard Mullin.
He received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, with distinction. During law school, Mr. Krueger served as extern to the Honorable Morton Denlow, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is admitted to practice in all California state courts, along with the United States District Court for the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tyler J. Johnson is a Partner with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in the firm’s Los Angeles Office. Mr. Johnson represents employers in every stage of the litigation process, from prelitigation disputes to class certification hearings and trials. He represents businesses of every size, and has extensive experience in the healthcare, agricultural, fashion, and temporary staffing industries. Mr. Johnson defends employers against claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and has prevailed at trial in a pregnancy discrimination case. Tyler also routinely represents businesses in complex litigation, including proposed class actions and representative actions under the Private Attorneys General Act.
Mr. Johnson has defeated class certification in a number of cases and frequently obtains summary judgment for employers. Tyler is a co-author of the California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Litigation and Compliance Manual, and a contributing author to the ALERT Newsletter. He is also a co-speaker at the Castle Publications’ Seminars.
Tyler received his J.D. degree from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Maryland. Mr. Johnson served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
