Articles Posted in employment attorney

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While some aspects of the law and legal doctrine date back more than 1,000 years ago, when empires were fighting each other in Western Europe, a good portion of our laws and our legal system are constantly evolving based upon the will of the people and the actions of legislative bodies.

to-sign-a-contract-3-1221952-mFor this reason, is it important to review all recent changes to the law from time-to-time. A news article from The National Law Review takes a look at recent changes to employment law in the state of California. One of the recent changes was that the word “alien” has been removed from the California Labor Code. Continue Reading ›

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According to a recent news story from Bring Me The News, big box retailer Target has just agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle a complaint by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It was alleged the screening process for job applicants the retailer used was discriminatory.

to-sign-a-contract-3-1221952-mThe money collected as part of the settlement agreement will be given to the roughly 3,000 candidates who were allegedly rejected for higher-level positions with the retailer. The reason these applicants were rejected, according to EEOC, is because the test instruments utilized in the screening process were allegedly discriminatory against African Americans, Asians and women. EEOC said several of these tests were not even job-related. More specifically, it was not that there was one thing in these tests you point to and say was discriminatory, but when the results are reviewed in the context of the gender, ethnicity and national origin of the applicants, it was clear to EEOC that there was a discriminatory impact. Continue Reading ›

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Harsh working conditions in the food processing industry are nothing new. The struggle of immigrants working in a meatpacking factory was one of the main stories in “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair.

One would hope  though that in today’s modern era of regulation and an emphasis on workers’ rights, there would not be contemporary examples of unfair employment practices in this industry, especially for immigrant workers.

job-concept-1445172-4-mAccording to a recent article from Food Production Daily, a major beef processor has just been fined $200,000 for allegedly engaging in unfair employment practices.   The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) issued the hefty fine against the company after DOJ and the company had reached a settlement agreement to end the litigation. Continue Reading ›

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Professional cheerleaders are now recognized by California law as “employees,” entitled to minimum wages and overtime pay. It also provides them with sick leave, meal breaks and a host of other labor protections that are available to the team and other staffers. cheerleader

Now, instead of classifying them as “independent contractors,” they are deemed “employees,” with all the rights and benefits that title affords.

The legislation that changed their status, AB202, was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown after being introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. She was motivated by a wage-and-hour lawsuit filed by the Oakland Raiderette cheerleaders. Gonzalez said short-changing women in any profession should not be tolerated, and cheerleaders were being treated as glorified volunteers. This was despite the long hours, extensive control the team had over almost every aspect of cheerleaders’ lives and the fines that were levied for minor infractions, such as gaining more than four pounds or forgetting to bring pom-poms to practice. Continue Reading ›

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Employees who file workers’ compensation claims may run the risk of possible retaliation by employers who want to avoid paying the associated costs. The majority of states have laws that prohibit companies from lashing out against workers who have filed workers’ compensation claims.assembly

Workers seeking to prove retaliation have to show:

  • He or she was an employee entitled to receive benefits under California’s workers’ compensation law;
  • He or she took some protected action (i.e., filing a workers’ compensation claim)
  • He or she suffered an adverse employment action (i.e., termination, denial of promotion, etc.)
  • The employer was motivated to carry out this adverse action by employee engaging in protected activity.

It’s not an easy threshold to meet, and that’s why having an experienced employment lawyer on your side can be critical. Continue Reading ›

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The Family and Medical Leave Act – also routinely referred to as “FMLA” – entitles most workers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Workers can take up to 12 months in a given period, and it can be for anything from the birth of a child (within one year) to the serious health condition of a spouse to an illness that renders the employee unable to work.bloodpressure1

What many people don’t realize about this act is that the time to which they are entitled doesn’t necessarily need to be taken all at once.

For example, if a worker injures her back and her doctor grants permission to take periodic time off work as needed for pain, there are allowances for that.

Unfortunately, many employers don’t realize this either, and workers may face disciplinary action or even wrongful termination for exercising these rights. Continue Reading ›

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Long gone are the days when most employees will be able to work for 20 or 25 years with the same employer or government agency and collect a pension when they finally decide to retire. Even when retirement benefits are offered, they often require employees to contribute to the plans with deductions from their paychecks, and then the money is placed in a mutual fund or IRA administered through a management agency that has entered into a contract with an employer. If the employee leaves the job, any money that has vested must be removed from the policy with a tax penalty or kept in the plan at the cost of the worker, as the company will no longer pay the administrative costs.

uscapitolAccording to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Times, President Barack Obama has given his support to an effort in California to give more retirement benefits to employees working in the state. Continue Reading ›

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Bullying has become recognized as a major problem in our society. Most people think of bullying in terms of schools and teenagers, but bullying is a serious problem that happens in many different settings, including during the course of employment.

tirednesssetsinAccording to a recent news article form The Press Enterprise, a new California law requires anti-bullying training for employee supervisors. Employers are already required to undergo mandatory sexual harassment avoidance training, but the new law will add anti-bullying training to the existing program. Continue Reading ›

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According to a recent news feature from Orange County Register, the employment rate in Orange County has finally recovered from the Great Recession and is actually higher than it was in 2006.

moneyThe current number of jobs county officials have provided is 1,548,800. This number is nearly 3,000 more jobs than the county had in December of 2006, when employment reached its peak prior to falling off in the last major recession. Not only is the number of jobs in Orange County continuing to grow, there is a faster rate of growth in this county than the state and national averages. Specifically, in Orange County, we are currently experiencing a year over year growth in employment at 3.4 percent, as compared to the statewide average of three percent and the national average of just over two percent. Continue Reading ›

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Military status discrimination is serious problem, and it is only getting more common due to the large numbers of veterans who have returned form the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and other locations in which the war on terror is being waged. United States service members who decided to put their lives at risk, and defend our way of life deserve better that coming home to face employment discrimination as a result of their military status.

in-war-ii-1152746-mAccording to a recent report from 760 KFMB, a group of military reservists who are employed as federal agents with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have fled an employment complaint in which they allege harassment and discrimination by their employer. Two of the agents gave an interview in connection with the news report in which they have stated service members should not be treated as second-class citizens by their employer. Continue Reading ›

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