As an employee in the state of California, you have many legal rights and protections. One of these rights includes the right to a safe workplace. The California Labor Code Section 6400, which governs workplace safety, states that “Every employer shall furnish employment and a place of employment that is safe and healthful for the employees therein.” Further, Section 6401 states that: “Every employer shall furnish and use safety devices and safeguards, and shall adopt and use practices, means, methods, operations, and processes which are reasonably adequate to render such employment and place of employment safe and healthful. Every employer shall do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, safety, and health of employees.” As you can tell from the plain language of the law, employers have a high burden to protect you as employees, and a failure to do so can expose the business to significant regulation and liability. Workplace safety is…Read More
The holiday season is officially upon us. Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Day. What this means is excessive shopping, family gatherings, parties, and eating way too much. It also means arranging your work schedules to accommodate the holidays. In the midst of the seasons, you should be aware of your holiday rights as employees in California. Unfortunately, employment laws are mostly employer-friendly when it comes to holiday time and pay. Specifically: You are not entitled to days off on holidays. Businesses are free to remain open on any day that they choose, and are not required to close their doors on holidays. You are not entitled to extra pay on holidays. California law does not require employers to pay employees extra when they work on holidays. Of course, many employers wisely have policies that pay employees extra for holiday work. Creating such a policy is entirely in the discretion of the employer. If your employer…Read More
Bullying has been trending on social media and in the news for years. The focus has been on young children through their teenage years and the impact that bullying has had in driving young people to suicide or developing significant mental health issues. Unfortunately for some, bullying doesn’t end at high school and a surprising many people actually find themselves the victim bullying in the workplace. And the impact of bullying can be just as devastating as an adult. What Workplace Bullying May Look Like Bullying from a supervisor or co-worker(s) in the workplace can take on many different forms. To illustrate, this may include: Vandalism. An employee’s personal property is destroyed, stolen, or hidden. Persistent “pranks”. A person is singled out and subjected to unwanted pranks and jokes. Insults. An employee is the subject of constant insults and criticisms that are personal or professional and are meant to degrade the employee’s self-esteem. Acts of…Read More
The difference between right and wrong. It is something that we’ve been taught since we were toddlers. As we have grown to adulthood, we’ve aspired to be our best and to live right. Part of that is making hard choices of staying silent or speaking up when we see wrongdoing. This is a common and terrifying prospect in the workplace. Sometimes we pick our battles. An example is when we see a coworker take a pen or printing personal documents with company paper. Is this worth reporting? Probably not. However, the dilemma becomes very real when you see your employer engaging in illegal conduct. Whistleblower Protections Under the Federal Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA), employers are prohibited from retaliating against “whistleblower” employees who report illegal activity to the proper authorities. This includes when the employer is believed to be breaking the law, or when the employer is ordering an employee to commit an unlawful…Read More
We live in a modern, post-industrial civilization. Laws have been developed to take us out of the days when employees (adult and children alike) would face constant safety hazards, have to work nights and weekends, and were literally worked to death. Compounding the problem, employers had all the power and employees didn’t even have any right to complain. Things have obviously changed over time, and in California, employees enjoy the country’s broadest protections from employer abuse. For “non-exempt” employees, this includes a minimum wage, getting paid for every hour worked, and overtime pay. In addition, employees are entitled to rest breaks and meal breaks. How Rest Breaks Work Non-exempt California employees are entitled to a ten-minute, paid rest break for every four hours worked. Significantly, you get a break for the majority of each four hour interval worked. For example, if you work 3.5 hours, you are still entitled to one break, if you work…Read More
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a Federal law that protects employees and provides for unpaid leave due to qualified family or medical reasons. Based off of President Bill Clinton’s initiative, the FMLA was enacted in 1993 partially in response to a growing number of women in the workforce and an underlying belief that people should not have to choose between bonding with their children and their job security. Under the FMLA, an employee is entitled to 12 weeks of protected, unpaid leave over each 12 month period for events such as: Medical leave due to a serious health condition Leave to care for a relative with a serious medical condition The birth of a child or the placement of an adoptive child; or (4) qualifying exigent circumstances related to active military duty. The California Family Rights Act The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) is California’s adoption of the FMLA, and offers substantially…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
