If you work for a California employer, consider yourself fortunate. This state has some of the most employee-protective laws in the entire country. Unfortunately, a lot of employees are completely unaware of many of their legal rights, and employers take full advantage of this. For informational purposes, I would like to provide an overview of some of the latest employment laws that the California legislature has enacted. Criminal History Questions Prohibited Under Assembly Bill 1008, employer are no longer permitted to question a job applicant-either in writing or orally-regarding any criminal convictions prior to making a conditional job offer. Further, the employer cannot consider or disseminate information regarding: Convictions that have been sealed or expunged Involvement in pre-trial or post-trial diversion programs Arrests that did not result in convictions. There are, however, some specific types of positions where a person’s arrest or conviction regarding a sex offense or drug offense may be considered, based on…Read More
Technology makes it easier than ever for employers to make sure their operations are running at peak efficiency. Laptops and professional tablets make it easier for employees to telecommute and work from home, complex software allows the company to manage inventory and dispatch employees in real time, and work smart phones enable employees to be reached wherever they are. With this investment in technology and access to abundant information, also comes a new risk of privacy abuse that wasn’t on anyone’s minds even a decade ago. One of these potential abuses involves employee tracking. In other words, can an employer track your whereabouts? First, it is important to understand that employee tracking isn’t implicitly evil. There are actually legitimate reasons for an employer to want this information: A company has a legitimate business interest in paying accurate wages. For jobs where an employee is on the road and it simply isn’t feasible to punch the…Read More
Wage theft occurs when an employer fails to follow federal, state, or local laws regarding employees’ wage and overtime rights. These basic rights generally include receiving the minimum wage, overtime compensation, an accurate accounting of their work hours, and breaks. In essence, when an employer does not receive full compensation (including overtime) for all of their work, or fails to receive legally mandated breaks, an employer is stealing from the employee. A June 2018 national study of wage theft claims across the country by Good Jobs First has confirmed what my law firm has seen for years: that wage theft is “rampant” amongst big corporations. In fact, over the last two decades, big companies have had to pay out nine billion dollars in compensation and penalties. The most common types of wage theft include: Overtime violations—where an employer fails to pay employees overtime or double time. Misclassification—where employers misclassify employees as exempt and fail to abide by…Read More
In the past several years, information collected by the Center for Disease Control and the U.S. Census have demonstrated a trend that women are increasingly waiting longer to have their first child. One of the reasons for this is for the sake of working and career advancement. But prolonging the decision to have children is not without risks. In fact, having a baby past the age of thirty-five is associated with a greater chance of complications, such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, blood clots, and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). With pregnancy risks naturally come real concerns, like the health of the mother and the health of the child. In addition, there are concerns about job security if a situation arises where a future mother is unable to work due to a pregnancy-related disability. It is therefore prudent to be aware of your legal rights in such a scenario. Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) California employees (whose employer…Read More
You know the difference between right and wrong. It is something inside of you and something you try to instill in your friend, family, and children. Sometimes it’s easy to do the right thing, like pointing that a cashier gave you too much change. But you also know that doing the right thing can be really hard—with very real consequences. An example of this is when you see your employer break the law, or when your employer asks you to break the law. This is a huge ethical dilemma as it challenges your sense of right and wrong, while also putting your job, livelihood, and reputation on the line. California Labor Code Section 1102.5 addresses California employers when it comes to protecting whistleblowers. A “whistleblower” is a person who has a reasonable belief that their employer is violating state or federal laws, or is asking them to violate the law, and reports it to the authorities.…Read More
Employees in California are protected by wage and overtime laws, which require employers to: (1) provide the highest available minimum wage; (2) properly count and credit employee’s work hours; (3) pay overtime wages at 1.5 times when an employee works more than 8 hours and double wages when an employee works more than 12 hours in a workday; (4) pay employees timely; (5) provide meal and rest breaks; and (6) provide employers notice of their rights. These laws are well settled and employers have no excuse for noncompliance. Numerous restaurants in California have recently made the news for the wrong reason: wage theft. These restaurants have been caught: La Taqueria, a famous and well established Mexican restaurant in San Francisco was fined by the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement and the California Labor Commissioner for wage and overtime violations, including failing to pay overtime and for failing to pay sick pay. Essentially, the restaurant was taking advantage…Read More
What Is The FMLA? The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, or the FMLA, is a set of federal laws that essentially protects employees from adverse employment action for qualified family or medical reasons. Designed “to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families”, the FMLA allows an employee to take up to 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave during a twelve month period of time in order to attend to one of the following events: to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition for the birth of a child, and to bond with the newborn child; for the placement of an adoptive or foster child, and to bond with that child; to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son,…Read More
Federal and state laws offer broad protections for employees. Generally, employees are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code. There are several exceptions to these rules, which include several classes of exempt employees. California Labor Code 515.5 provides that computer software employees who meet a certain set of criteria are classified as exempt. The Labor Code Looks At Job Duties And Pay To quality as an exempt employee the Labor Code states that: The employee is primarily engaged in work that is intellectual or creative and that requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment. The employee is primarily engaged in duties that consist of one or more of the following: The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications. The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs,…Read More
California Labor Code Section 2922 states that “An employment, having no specified term, may be terminated at the will of either party on notice to the other. Employment for a specified term means an employment for a period greater than one month.” Most employees in California are considered “at will” employees, meaning that employment can be terminated, or the employee can quit, at any time without cause. Despite that this concept sounds simple, there are times when an at will termination is improper and state and federal laws that protect employees from improper termination. Discrimination The California Labor Code is filled with specific protections against discrimination for employees based on their protected class. These code provisions make it unlawful to engage in discriminatory employment action, including termination, based on sex, gender, race, age, disability, country of origin, victim status, pregnancy, or breastfeeding, among many other categories. Retaliation The Labor Code also provides for protections against…Read More
When you chose a career as a barber or hairstylist, you did so because the work appeals to you and because you have bills to pay. Unfortunately, there are employers who will take advantage of employees who don’t know the law. The California Senate has recently passed a law to protect barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians, manicurists, and electrologists in one area where they can get ripped off: commissions. SB 490 Commission Based Pay Senate Bill 490, introduced by Steven Bradford, regulates employers who attempt to pay barbers and cosmetologists on commission. Significantly, it requires that if an employer chooses to pay an employee licensed as a barber or cosmetologist on commission, then: In addition to the commissions the employee receives, the employee’s base hourly wage (including break times) must be at least two times the minimum wage; and Wages must be paid twice per calendar month. The commission may be either a percentage of services or…Read More
