In California, all workers are protected by state labor laws regardless of full-time, part-time, or seasonality employment. Once an employer hires you to perform a temporary, part-time, or seasonal job, you have certain essential rights that all workers have in California. Seasonal Employment Laws in California In California, there is legislation in place to help protect seasonal employees from unfair employment practices. These include the right to earn minimum wage, entitlement to accrue paid sick leave (PSL) if they work more than 30 hours a week, and entitlement to membership in the Public Employees’ Retirement Law (“PERL”) if requirements are met Employers rely greatly on the use of seasonal employees. These workers are a vital component of the California economy. Seasonal work is temporary employment that recurs around the same time every year to meet the demands of businesses that peak at certain expected times of the year. Seasonal employers hire seasonal employees for extra help when things get…Read More
For longer than many Californians realize, California has supported the idea of workers receiving pay when they take family leave. A component of California’s State Disability Insurance (SDI) program created in 1946, California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) was signed into law as Senate Bill 1661 by Governor Gray Davis in 2002, creating the first program of its kind in the United States. California’s PFL program provides up to eight weeks of benefits to covered workers who need to take time off to engage in a qualifying family or military activity. PFL benefits officially became available to covered workers in California on July 1, 2004. To be eligible for benefits under California’s PFL program, you must: be unable to do your regular or customary work. have lost wages due to the need to provide care for a seriously ill family member, bond with a new child, or participate in a qualifying event resulting from a family…Read More
During the pandemic, OSHA standards continue to apply as employers attempt to protect workers from exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued workplace guidance for employers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance directs how employers should develop preparedness plans and implement them through programs that effectively train workers. Employers are also directed to assess worker exposure to workplace hazards and risks and take infection prevention measures to reasonably address these hazards and risks in ways consistent with OSHA Standards. The following are a list of the measures that OSHA has issued as guidance for employers: promoting frequent and thorough handwashing or sanitizing with at least 60% alcohol hand sanitizer; encouraging workers to stay at home if sick; encouraging use of cloth face coverings; training workers on proper respiratory etiquette, social distancing, and other steps they may take to protect themselves; using stanchions to help keep…Read More
We no longer live in the 19th and early 20th centuries when employers frequently exploited employees with unscrupulous abandon. Nevertheless, 21st-century employers still attempt to exploit employees when they believe it may increase the profits of their business enterprises. To further the public policy of protecting employees from unfair exploitative employment practices, California law offers many legal safeguards for employees. Employers are required to pay workers for and provide rest and meal breaks. Failure to do so is “wage theft.” Employers may try to categorize a worker as an independent contractor to avoid compliance with California wage laws. Filing a claim in this situation for back wages may result in the entitlement to back wages. The following is a list of California laws related to wages and breaks that every California employee should know: Employers must pay minimum wage Contract workers or those who are paid by the piece or unit or paid by the…Read More
Employees have rights in the workplace. Any business in California that employs individuals must not infringe upon these important workplace rights or it faces serious legal consequences. Employer retaliation for legitimate employee actions is illegal and subject to the payment of damages for any harm caused by such action. Moss Bollinger is an employment law firm that works hard and diligently to protect California employees from any employer that acts as if it is above or beyond the law. Often, when employees assert their workplace rights formally or even informally, employers may retaliate to subvert these rights. Employers take this course of action to set a precedent, one undesirable in any workplace, to create a toxic atmosphere of fear to prevent such employee complaints from occurring again in the future. The attorneys at Moss Bollinger find this course of conduct unacceptable and will fight to make employers pay for encroaching upon the valuable rights possessed by California workers. California…Read More
California law requires all California employers to comply with all local, state, and federal labor laws. Employers may not plead ignorance of the law as an excuse for non-compliance since these laws generally hold employers strictly liable for violations. Thus, regardless of the intent of an employer, violations of California’s employment laws may have severe consequences. Most claims require employers to pay the attorneys’ fees and costs of a worker’s lawsuit if the worker prevails. Thus, a free consultation with the experienced employment attorneys at Moss Bollinger to determine your rights is a risk-free undertaking by any California worker who has experienced some illegal conduct by his or her employer. The following is a list of some California employment laws that employers commonly violate: Misclassification of an employee as an independent contractor One of the laws that employers have tried to usurp for decades relates to the classification of workers as either “employees” or “independent contractors.” In 2019…Read More
For years, California and the federal government have provided Californian workers with strong employees’ rights laws. This includes wage and overtime laws. These laws were designed to protect workers from employers literally working them to death for pennies. Now, employees are guaranteed a minimum wage, rest and break rights, and overtime pay for when they work beyond 40 hours in a week. There are, however, exceptions to these laws. Some Employees are Exempt from Wage and Overtime Laws Exempt employees are workers who an employer does not have to provide minimum wage, overtime, or rest breaks. In other words, they are exempt from the legal obligations of wage and overtime laws. A sad, but predictable side-effect of having this loophole to wage and overtime laws is that some employers choose to abuse it. Skirting these laws allows them to get more work out of their employees while paying them less than they would otherwise get.…Read More
Employers don’t like it when their employees make complaints or cause trouble for them. These complaints cost money, take a lot of time and energy, and can harm the company’s reputation. It is even worse when the complaints against the employer are true. Unfortunately, instead of recognizing their own wrongdoing or violations, employers choose to take out their anger on the employees who have brought attention to their misconduct. What is Retaliation? Retaliation occurs when an employer engages in some form of punishment or adverse employment action against an employee for engaging in a legally protected activity. This punishment can take many different forms, such as threats by the employer or on the employer’s behalf, harassment and bullying, professional humiliation, threatening immigration action, spreading private information, attempts to damage the employee’s reputation, extra assignments, demotion, pay cuts, excluding the employee from training or the opportunity for promotion, and termination. Retaliation is a very serious subject…Read More
Wage theft occurs when an employer fails to comply with wage and overtime laws. These include a guaranteed minimum wage, breaks, and overtime pay when employees work long hours. An employer’s failure to abide by these laws is the same thing as stealing from its employees. Unfortunately, some employers who choose to violate their employees’ wage and overtime rights are good at disguising their misconduct. This makes it difficult for employees to know whey they are getting ripped off. Regardless of whether an employee is classified as “exempt” or makes commissions, California laws are very specific in how much an employee must make in salary, or must make overall with commissions; but for our purposes, know that no employee should be making less than the minimum wage per hour. And this is where employees get trapped: because some employers work these employees such long hours that their average hourly rate per hour comes out to…Read More
When you work, you should have a reasonable expectation that you are safe from violence and harm. Unfortunately, workplace violence is very real and needs to be taken seriously. In fact, employers have a duty under federal and state laws to maintain a safe workplace. In California, the legislature has implemented two major acts to specifically address workplace violence. California Occupational Safety and Health Act and Healthcare Employees The California Occupational Safety and Health Act is administered by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CAL/OSHA), which recognizes three primary types of workplace violence: The first type is injury or death that comes as a result of a work-related robbery. This may happen with store clerks, security guards, bank tellers, and taxi drivers. The second type of workplace violence is perpetrated by someone receiving a service from the victim. The legislature has recognized that healthcare providers, such as nursing assistants or psychiatric assistants are disproportionately…Read More
