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California Senators Work for Citizenship for Agricultural Workers

June 10, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

For a variety of reasons, American workers are not showing up in droves to pick crops. As we have seen across the country, when trying to fill tens of thousands of harvest-related jobs, it is rare to see more than a small handful of Americans apply for these positions. Even if American workers do sign up, most of them quit before the end of the harvest season. This means workers who are brought to this country on agricultural visas do these jobs, or these jobs are the jobs that are done by undocumented workers.

While the current presidential administration said it plans to stop these visa programs, despite the fact the Trump Organization personally uses these workers on its various properties, and the administration also continues to crack down on undocumented workers, this creates a serious problem. Either these workers will continue to do the crop harvesting jobs, or the country will switch to importing all produce. Continue Reading ›

Fox is Now Being Sued for Racial Discrimination

June 5, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

Fox News Channel has been faced with numerous claims of unlawful employment actions in recent months. Fox has settled numerous sexual harassment cases, and is now facing an expanded racial discrimination lawsuit. The expanded lawsuit involves multiple former Fox workers, all of whom claim they were racially discriminated against while performing their jobs for Fox News Channel.

Racial discrimination and sexual harassment can both result in civil actions against companies in which executives or managers engage in unlawful behavior, as well as civil actions against companies which fail to correct a hostile work environment being created in the workplace.

Orange County employment discrimination lawyers understand how devastating it can be for victims to be treated inappropriately and unfairly due to their protected status, like their race or gender. Victims have rights, and high-profile anti-discrimination claims like the recent cases against Fox News may help to raise awareness of discrimination issues and prompt more people who are being victimized to take action. Continue Reading ›

California Employers Convicted for Workers’ Compensation Violations

June 4, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news article from Business Insurance, two employers in California have just been sentenced to prison following convictions involving workers’ compensation violations. Prosecutors have stated that one employer, a licensed contractor, did not have workers’ compensation as required to protect his employees in case of an accident.

Anyone who has ever worked in any type of employment setting has probably seen the workers’ rights poster that is handing in the break room or next to the copy machine. This poster, while you may not give it much thought, lists the important right afforded to by your by your employer pursuant to state, local, and federal law. This includes your right to minimum wage and your right to overtime pay in most situations. Continue Reading ›

The Problem with Wage Theft in California

June 1, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

When an employer does not pay his or her employees all of the money and benefits that they are rightfully owed, this is known as wage theft. According to a recent news article from Pasadena Star News, wage theft is a serious problem in California.

The worst part is that the employees who are victims of wage theft are often the lowest paid or minimum wage workers, so this creates an even greater hardship on people who are working desperately so they can take care of themselves and their families. To get an understanding of how big the problem has become in our area, a recent study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that around $2 billion per year is stolen due to minimum wage violations alone. Continue Reading ›

Will Cities and Counties Soon Investigate Discrimination Claims in California?

May 28, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

When you believe you have been discriminated against, it can be difficult to know where you should turn. If the discrimination caused you to experience damages, Orange County employment attorneys can assist you in using the civil court system to obtain compensation from employers for losses resulting from discriminatory behaviors. Some victims of discrimination also turn to government agencies for help, although the assistance available with this method can be more limited in important ways, as compared with having an attorney represent your interests and advocate for you.

Soon, California workers who have been discriminated against could have another source to turn to for assistance if unlawful discrimination is occurring. Capital Public Radio reported a new bill is working its way through the state legislature which would help to provide broader anti-discrimination protection for workers by enhancing the resources available to those workers for reporting discriminatory behavior. Continue Reading ›

California Sues Store Over English Only Policy

May 24, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

Discrimination on the basis of race and national origin are prohibited by both state and federal law, and Orange County employment discrimination lawyers provide legal assistance to victims of unlawful discriminatory actions who wish to pursue claims for compensation. Discrimination can take many forms beyond a company simply not hiring or not promoting someone due to their race. Just recently, for example, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing in California filed a lawsuit against Forever 21, which is a local clothing store. Forever 21 is being sued for discrimination against Spanish speaking employees.

According to CBS Local San Francisco, Forever 21 allegedly violated civil rights laws by unlawfully discriminating against employees who speak Spanish. The clothing retailer adopted an English-only policy to apply at its flagship store in San Francisco. The store prohibited staff members from speaking any language other than English, according to the lawsuit which has been filed. This prohibition against languages other than English extended not just to talking with customer, including Spanish-speaking customers, but also to situations where staff members were not interacting with the public. Continue Reading ›

Report: Employees Demonstrate at LA County Sanitation Districts HQ

May 14, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news report from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, more than 200 workers at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts were present for a major demonstration. They were carrying picket signs and chanting about management and the rights they are fighting for, but this was not a strike. While we typically associate picket signs and workers’ rights chants with a strike or even a work slowdown, we are seeing more and more of these demonstrations where workers will express their concerns and then go back to work.

The concern for these sanitation workers is coming to a boil as talks are ongoing that may affect their paychecks. The picketing workers included wastewater plant employees, supervisors, IT specialists, and engineers. The rally was the first for this agency, as they have not had many issues involves disgruntled employees in the past. However, these workers do have considerable power should there ever be a strike, as they are responsible for the sanitation needs of nearly 6 million people in nearly 80 cities and unincorporated parts of the county. Continue Reading ›

Facebook Aims to Hire 3,000 Workers to Fight “Streaming Violence”

May 10, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

Since Facebook introduced its live stream feature on its incredibly popular social media application, people have been recording many different aspects of their daily lives and posting them to their Facebook walls. In some of these cases, we see people ranting about politics, or perhaps someone will post a video of himself or herself driving in traffic with a smartphone camera sitting on the dashboard.

In addition to these common variety live feed posts (which can be watched at any time later as well), there has been an alarming trend of people being beaten, kidnapped and even killed that have been posted on Facebook and watched by millions. There have also been several suicide attempts or actual suicides posted on the social media site. Continue Reading ›

Hospital Workers in Orange County Picket for Improved Working Conditions

May 6, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news article from OC Weekly, workers at a major regional hospital were wearing red shirts with their union logo and holding picket signs. Their goal was to bring public attention to what they consider poor working conditions. The main complaint brought by the picketers was that their employer is using part-time labor and on-call staff to get around paying fair wages to the permanent health care staff.

At this worker demonstration, there were hundreds of employees gathered with picket signs. They also say that part-time employees are being hired and are being required to work full-time hours, but are not getting full-time employee benefits. Essentially, the claim is that the employer is acting improperly and unfairly toward the full-time staff and the new part-time hires. They also argue the part-time employment plan is not good for workers or the patients. They argue that having a dedicated full-time staff that is treated well is the proper thing to do. Continue Reading ›

Report: More Airline Employees Face Possible Discipline for Passenger Interactions

May 2, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

When a man who refused to give up his seat on a full plane was allegedly rough handled by security and dragged off the plane, the public became enthralled with the story. There were campaigns to boycott the legacy carrier and a seemingly endless supply of memes. This all came about as a result of the alleged incident being captured by a passenger on his or her smartphone video camera.

These days, it seems there are cameras everywhere. While there may have been witnesses describing such an event to a news reporter in the past, nothing sparks the public interest and, in this case, outrage more than a video clip of the incident on one’s Facebook feed or on a news organization’s web feed.

This can be used as critical evidence when an employee’s job is on the line. However, it’s important to remember that sometimes clips can be taken out-of-context. That alone doesn’t necessarily mean wrongful termination occurred. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act protects workers from wrongful termination, but California is still an at-will employment state.