Breastfeeding has been proven to provide impressive benefits to young children and their mothers. In fact, the state of California has passed numerous laws in the last two decades to promote breastfeeding, educate new mothers, and protect their rights to breastfeed. If you are a new, working mother, or a new mother ready to re-enter the workplace, you need to be aware of your legal rights. Employer Must Make Accommodations For Breast Milk Expression In 2001, the California legislature amended the California Labor Code to add protections to breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Labor Code 1030 requires that: “Every employer, including the state and any political subdivision, shall provide a reasonable amount of break time to accommodate an employee desiring to express breast milk for the employee’s infant child. The break time shall, if possible, run concurrently with any break time already provided to the employee. Break time for an employee that does not run concurrently with…Read More
California has strong laws that protect employees. One area of these protections, established by the California Labor Code and a perpetually growing body of case law from the Appellate Courts, is breaks for employees. Employers are required to provide rest and lunch breaks to their employees if they work a certain number of hours each day. Unfortunately, employers often try to get around these laws or find ways to violate them. If you work in California, know the employers are required to provide the following breaks. Employees who work more than three and a half hours a day are entitled to a ten minute rest break for every four hours of work. This time must be paid, and the employer cannot require the employee to work during this time. Generally, employers give this break in the middle of each interval; however, the California Supreme Court has given employers more “latitude” when this is “infeasible.” An…Read More
When you quit a job, things can get very bad, very quickly. Whether you were planning to quit or simply could not take it and impulsively quit, losing your primary source of income hits hard. It likely means that you will struggle or fail to pay rent, a car payment, car insurance, a phone bill, utilities, or credit cards bills. That is why your final paycheck from your employer is so important, because it is that last influx of money to tide you until you find another job. Fortunately, California has some of the most employee friendly laws when it comes to final pay. These laws establish strict and swift timeframes in which an employer must deliver a final pay check to an employee who quits. Calendar mark with Quit job Did The Employee Give Notice? The speed with which an employee gets their final paycheck depends on whether they provided their employer at least…Read More
Wage disparities between genders can be found in all types of industries. Certain fields, such as technology, the problem is much more widespread. In recent years, several companies in the Silicon Valley, such as Microsoft, Facebook and Oracle, have been thrust in the spotlight for wage gap issues. And recently, Google has been under investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL) for gender pay discrimination. As a federal contractor, Google is required to provide the DOL with access to its records and employee information to ensure compliance with federal equal opportunity laws. In this investigation, the DOL found evidence of extreme gender pay discrimination. They filed a lawsuit against Google this past January. “We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce,” said Janette Wipper, a DOL regional director. Janet Herold, regional solicitor for the DOL, said: “The government’s analysis at this point indicates that discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme,…Read More
We love bonuses. For all of our hard work, it is nice to be recognized and rewarded. Further, any bump in our bank accounts helps. However, with your bonus, it is important to be aware of how to calculate your overtime pay. This is because your bonus may positively impact your overtime rate of pay. Unfortunately, some employers do not properly account for your bonus when calculating your pay, which is a violation of California law. Closeup of a pencil pushing buttons on a calculator doing math calculations Discretionary Versus Non-Discretionary Bonus It is first important to know that bonuses are put into two categories, “discretionary” and “non-discretionary”. Discretionary bonuses are defined as “sums paid as gifts at a holiday or other special occasions, such as a reward for good service, which are not measured by or dependent upon hours worked, production or efficiency, are not included for purposes of determining the regular rate of…Read More
$10.50 per hour is the minimum wage in California. Remember that number. Because if a potential employer is trying to convince you to take less than this amount, you are being deceived. Employers in California are subject to both federal and state employee wage laws. The federal government mandates compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), while California is governed by the California Labor Code. Minimum wage words showing through magnifying glass held by hand According to the FLSA and current U.S. regulations, the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25. In contrast, the California Labor Code Section 1182.12 has established an annually increasing state minimum wage for employers with more than 26 employees. Beginning January 1, 2017 through the end of this year, the state minimum wage is $10.50 per hour. $10.50 per hour is clearly more than $7.25 per hour, so how do we reconcile that difference? Fortunately, the laws in California favor…Read More
As of January 1, 29 states and the District of Columbia enacted minimum wage requirements that surpass the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. This includes California, which is the 3rd highest minimum wage rate in the country, with a minimum of $10 per hour for employers with fewer than 26 employees and $10.50 per hour for employers with 26 or more. Additionally, many larger metropolitan areas in California, including Ventura County, San Diego and San Francisco, impose minimum wage restrictions that exceed the state’s minimum rate. More areas could be added as 2017 progresses. The minimum wage increase for 2017 is just the beginning for the state. The minimum wage will increase by 50 cents per hour every year until 2023, with an ending minimum wage rate of $15. For employers with fewer than 26 employees, increases will not begin until 2018. Although there are exceptions to the California minimum wage requirements, the majority of adult…Read More
No matter what line of work you do in California, you can probably relate to many others who think “pay day” is the best day of the week. Especially if you work at a job that involves physical labor and hourly wages plus overtime, you probably scrutinize every paycheck to the very last penny to make sure it’s correct. Employers throughout the nation are obligated to adhere to various state and federal regulations that govern wages and timesheets. It’s a real problem when people who work so hard just to make ends meet discover discrepancies in their pay. If you suspect the company you work for is not in compliance with all laws governing pay rate, benefits, etc., you are not alone. Many other workers have addressed similar wage and hour issues in the past. Most Common Violations Every year, there are reviews that list some of the most common types of wage and hour infractions in…Read More
The sad reality is often that the workers who receive the least pay often do highly important work. It’s also sad but true that workers at the bottom of the economic ladder are the most likely to be exploited and have the least opportunity to complain. Hospital environmental services workers are an example. According to a recent class action lawsuit, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and its hospital services contractor, Xanitos, routinely denied their hospital services workers things that are guaranteed to them by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code. How Were The Workers Denied Their Due? Misclassification. The way environmental services works at 13 Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in California is this. The worker is initially hired by Xanitos, who has a contract with Kaiser. However, according to the complaint, the workers are told that Kaiser controls the details of their employment, including discipline and termination. This describes a relationship in which the…Read More
You spend several hours a day in the hot sun working on a farm. Your manager or crew leader comes through, reminds you of quotas and tells you to pick up the pace. Hopefully, your crew leader also ensures that you take adequate breaks out of the sun, have clean, cool water to drink and are paid what you earned. If your pay doesn’t reflect the hours you put in, you may not believe you can complain because your employer hired you as a seasonal or migrant worker. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The federal Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Protection Act of 1970 provides you with substantial protections against wage and hour violations. After all, you aren’t donating your time. You expect fair payment for your time and effort. How Does the Act Protect Your Pay? California’s Wage and Hour Division enforces your rights under the act. It requires your employer to provide the following:…Read More
