Employment laws offer employees a wide range of legal protections from improper employment actions, such as wage and overtime violations, discrimination, allowing a culture of harassment, retaliation, maintaining an unsafe workplace, privacy violations, or failure to make accommodations for handicapped employees. If you have been harmed by your employers actions, or failure to act, and the employer has refused to set things right, you need an attorney. Further, you will need your records as a starting point to help you show that you have been harmed. Not only do personnel records help hold employers accountable, but employers are legally required to allow employees and former employees access to their own records. In fact, employers can be held liable for damages if they fail to allow you access to your records in accordance with the law. You Are Entitled To See Any Document You Signed Employers are known to make employees and potential employees sign all…Read More
State and federal employment laws provide important rights and protect employees from a wide range of employer misconduct. Whenever there is a conflict between state and federal laws, the more protective laws are applied. When it comes to rest and meal breaks, this is a very good thing for California employees. Federally, there is no legal mandate that employers provide rest and meal breaks for employees during the workday. This is in contrast to the laws of California, which is one of the states that requires that employers receive meal and/or rest breaks if they work a certain number of hours in a workday. What Are Your Meal Break Rights? Employers in California are legally required to provide unpaid (job-protected) meal breaks to employees. Employees who work at least 5 hours in a workday must receive one half-hour meal break; however, these employees have the option of waiving this break. Employees who work ten hours…Read More
When it comes to employment law, arbitration agreements refer to agreements between employers and employees that prohibit harmed employees from filing lawsuits against their employer for violations of their legal rights. Instead, these agreements require that employees to resolve their grievance through arbitration. Employers love arbitration, as it takes their misconduct out of public viewing and prevents a judge or jury from awarding maximum damages against them. This is why employers have historically tried to make arbitration agreements a mandatory condition of employment. In other words, in order for an employee to work, they must sign away their right to file a lawsuit. If you live in California, you are fortunate. Because of imbalance of power between employers and employees, this state takes a skeptical view of arbitration. In fact, the California Courts have established rules that govern whether a mandatory arbitration agreement is enforceable. First, an arbitration agreement must be clear. In Flores v.…Read More
Unemployment is terrible. We all want to work, but the prospect of losing our jobs is terrifying. This is because we all have bills to pay and mouths to feed. If you lose your job, one of the first questions that must come to mind is how you are going to make ends meet. Fortunately for some, unemployment insurance benefits may be available to brace some of the financial impact of unemployment. California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) is responsible for determining eligibility and administering unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for qualified individuals who are out of work. To qualify, the following must apply: You must have been employed and earned a minimum of $1,300 in the highest quarter of your “base period” or at least $900 in you highest base period and at least 1.25 times this amount during your entire base period. Your base period is either the first four of your last five working…Read More
While you want to believe that the insurance company is on your side, this is not always the case. Insurance companies hire claims adjusters to give you the claim that best fits their needs. They are trained to look at evidence and determine ways to lower your compensation. Some strategies that an adjuster might use against you to devalue or deny your claim are: Saying that your evidence is invalid Saying that you missed your deadline Delaying payment until you give up While they are well-trained in claims, most people dealing with them are not. It can be helpful to have some arsenal to deal with prepared claims adjusters. Below are five tactics to better help you in the battle for compensation. 1. Review Your Policy Before Picking Up The Phone If you haven’t already, it is smart to read through your policy before calling your insurance company. Make sure you understand what is and is not covered. Once…Read More
Employees are humans, not machines. They need breaks to rest and eat during their long days at work. Employers are required by law to offer a certain number of breaks based on the employees’ hours. Here are the breaks that should be offered to you: Required Breaks If you work longer than 5 hours, your employer is required to allow a 30-minute meal break and you must be given the chance to take this break by the fifth hour of your work day. If your work day is less than six hours long, you can choose not to take a meal break if both you and your employer agree to it. If you work longer than 10 hours, you must be allowed a second meal break before or at the time of your tenth hour of work. You can only choose not to take a second meal break if your day is less than 12…Read More
Early last month, a man in northern California filed a civil lawsuit against American Express after the credit card company removed 100,000 Membership Rewards points from his account. He is seeking more than $1 million in damages. As detailed in the Northern California Record, the plaintiff opened a credit card account with American Express in May, when the company offered him a special promotion that promised him 100,000 points if he spent $3,000 within three months. Court records show that he spent just under $3,700, and was indeed credited with the Membership Rewards points. American Express revoked the points, however, when they perceived that the plaintiff was trying to deceive them. When Fake Points Are Worth Real Money The initial deal would have been enticing to almost anyone. Rewards points carry an estimated value of 1.9 cents each; as such, participants in this program would receive a bonus worth approximately $1,900. Yet in the current case,…Read More
Health insurance policies are supposed to offer us coverage for a variety of situations. There are times, unfortunately, when insurance companies deny a claim for illegitimate reasons. This can be particularly devastating to the insured person, particularly if they are dealing with a long-term disability. People who are victims of unethical disability claim denials have options for recourse. If your claim in denied, you can either file an appeal or a lawsuit against the insurance company, depending on individual circumstances. An insurance company may attempt to deny or unreasonably delay a disability claim by repeatedly requesting information, claiming a patient lied on the insurance claim, disputing against a medical diagnosis, claiming a disability doesn’t exist and by outright cancelling the insurance policy. Depending on the situation, these methods may be examples of acting in bad faith. In California, There Are Two Different Types of Denied Disability Actions: California denied disability insurance claims – If you obtained your…Read More
California labor laws protect employees from unfair wage and hour practices. If you feel you haven’t been paid proper wages, or you haven’t received overtime pay, you have options. When matters can be resolved internally with your employer, you have the right to file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office. Before doing so, it is important to understand what wage claims cover and how to file properly. In California, all employees or former employees of private companies can file a wage claim, regardless of immigration status. Individual claim forms can be filed to recover a range of damages, including: Unpaid wages, including overtime, bonuses and commissions Wages paid by accounts with insufficient funds Final paychecks that are not received Unused vacation hours that were not paid when employment was terminated Unauthorized paycheck deductions Non-reimbursed business expenses Failure to provide meals or rest periods as required by law Failure to receive minimum wage for…Read More
Do you live in California? Have you ever been mislead, deceived, or ripped off by a business? If so, you probably have a legal basis to file a lawsuit. California has some of the strongest consumer protection laws in the country. One of the oldest and most frequently litigated is the Unfair Competition Law (UCL). Found in the California Business and Professions Code sections 17200 through 17209, the UCL is designed to prohibit businesses from almost any sort of business-related misconduct. Specifically, it allows for “specific or preventive relief” “to enforce a penalty, forfeiture, or penal law in a case of unfair competition.” What Constitutes “Unfair Competition”? The California Business and Professions Code (BPC) defines unfair competition as one of the following: “Any unlawful” business act or practice Any “unfair” business act or practice Any “fraudulent business act or practice” Any “unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising” Any act in BPC sections 17500 through 17577,…Read More
