Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

‘Ministerial Exemption’ to Federal Discrimination Law

November 5, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

A woman previously employed by a nonprofit Christian ministry group has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, alleging her employer fired her because she was going through a divorce.

Costa Mesa wrongful termination lawyers know that while the courts have broadly backed religious institutions with regard to employment actions – sometimes even those that would otherwise be deemed discriminatory – this woman alleges there is a clear double standard. While she was not allowed to keep her job, two men in the same ministry who had also endured divorce – and subsequent remarriages – were allowed to stay.

The woman, who had worked for the organization since the late 1980s, served as a spiritual director. IN that capacity, she helped to initiate student-led ministries at colleges throughout the country.

California Religious Discrimination Claims on the Uptick

November 3, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

Our Costa Mesa religious discrimination attorneys recently wrote in our Employment Lawyer Blog about the case of a retail clothing store employee who was fired for refusing to remove her hijab, or Muslim religious head covering, at the request of her employer.

Now, The Wall Street Journal is exploring the issue of discrimination on the basis of religion in greater depth, saying that the number of such claims has skyrocketed in recent years, as America – and its faithful – have continued to grow more divorce.

Many companies reportedly struggle with how to handle the complexity of how to manage religion as it pertains to the workforce. For example, there are instances in which a seven-day workweek, being embraced by some employers, interferes with the Jewish Sabbath. There are other instances in which religious clothing (such as the hijab) may clash with the dress codes of a given employer. There are other instances in which company policy may interfere with a worker’s belief system. For example, how does an employer charged with issuing gay marriage licenses cope with an employee who says that such actions are against his or her beliefs?

Disability Discrimination Lawsuits Proliferate Nationwide

November 1, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

A number of high-profile disability discrimination lawsuits across the country are an important reminder of the fact that although we have made a great deal of progress in this arena, we still have a far way to go.

Here in California, the Fair Employment Housing Act, enforced by the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, bars employment discrimination on the basis of a person’s disability or even a perceived disability.

There are also requirements that hold employers to an expectation that they will reasonably act to accommodate workers with physical or mental disabilities and illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancer. In those cases where an employer fails to do this, the burden of proof is on the employer to show why doing so would cause an undue hardship.

California Hiring Practices Lawsuit Gets Class Action Status

October 30, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

Although the general tide toward employment litigation has been leaning more toward corporate interests lately, most notably with more stringent standards for class action filings, that doesn’t mean such cases are no longer happening at all.

Our Costa Mesa employment lawyers know that this was recently evidenced in a decision handed down by a federal judge in a Northern California courtroom. The judge In re: High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court Northern District of California, San Jose Division, has awarded class action status to the workers seeking recompense for what they say were unfair hiring practices engaged in conspiratorially by numerous technical firms in Silicon Valley.

Specifically, the workers allege the companies violated the Clayton Act and the Sherman Act, both antitrust laws. The workers say the ultimate goal of the companies was to drive down labor competition, and thereby deprive workers of job mobility – and potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in salary and other compensation.

California Internship Lawsuits: Blaming the Victim

October 28, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

A number of recent articles have boldly proclaimed that recent unpaid internship lawsuits have resulted in vast reductions of job opportunities and that the “era of internships is over,” urging companies to simply steer clear of interns altogether.

Our Costa Mesa wage and hour attorneys find this approach unfortunate, as in the long run, it does little to benefit the interns, the individual companies or the industry in which they hope to break into.

Regardless of whether these writers realize it, what they are doing is engaging in a classic form of victim blaming. Laws regarding how interns should be treated and what all parties should hope to receive from the arrangement have always been quite clear. However, it wasn’t until fairly recently that companies began to be called out on their blatant ignoring of these laws, which was ultimately leading to the exploitation of interns as a form of free labor.

California Employers’ Top Employment Law Mistakes

October 26, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

The California Chamber of Commerce recently came out with an informational bulletin describing the top things employers do to get sued.

Employment attorneys in Orange County know that there are of course situations in which employment law violations stem not from maliciousness or greed, but rather from a misunderstanding or misapplication of the law. It doesn’t make it any more acceptable to the employee who has been wronged. However, perhaps incorporating a greater amount of education might serve to reduce the number of employees who are improperly denied overtime, base wages and breaks.

In identifying the most common employer wage and hour law offenses, the chamber starts with the classification of workers. Employers may surmise that workers would prefer a constant salary. By labeling a worker exempt, an employer can avoid having to pay overtime and can avoid having to offer certain meal and res breaks.

Home Care Aides, Nannies, Get Wage and Hour Boosts

October 24, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

Efforts at both the state and federal level have boosted the level of workplace protection for home health aides, nannies and other domestic workers.

Our Costa Mesa wage and hour attorneys understand that two separate measures will extend minimum wage and overtime protection to these workers, many of whom historically had been treated under the law as little more than “babysitters.”

Advocates for low-wage workers say such measures will go far in ensuring that these workers – primarily female minorities – will be treated equally under the law.

Proving Age Discrimination in the California Workplace

October 22, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

Recently, a veteran newspaper reporter, heralded for her deft and ample coverage of the crime and courts beat in seedy Southern Florida, was recognized for her skilled fast embrace of new technology, with an editor publicly calling her a “social media star.”

Little more than a year later, she was offered a “voluntary buyout,” which a thinly veiled attempt by a company to shed older (i.e., more expensive) workers. Our age discrimination lawyers in Costa Mesa believe that this approach is not only discriminatory, it’s short-sighted, as it ends up reducing the overall quality of the finished product.

Still, such buy-outs are not technically illegal, even if they do blatantly target the over-55 crowd (every single one of the 40 employees at the paper offered the buyout was over the age of 55). Administrators can get around it by making it “voluntary.” The publisher reportedly told the employees in explaining the deal that, “surely, many of you have contemplated retirement and, if not, could probably use the skills honed during decades in the news business to land other jobs.”

Report: Age Discrimination Rampant in NYC

October 21, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

A new report by the AARP indicates that many New Yorkers over the age of 50 feel that age discrimination is rampant in the Big Apple.

According to the survey, more than 45 percent of workers over the age of 50 said that they were concerned about age discrimination at work. More than a quarter answered affirmatively when asked whether they had been denied a job opportunity because of their age. Nearly as many said they believed they had been fired, laid off or forced to retire from a job because of their age. Just as many said they had to suffer rude and discriminatory comments regarding their age from co-workers and even bosses.

Our California age discrimination lawyers know that we’re kidding ourselves if we think New York is the only place it’s happening.

Employment Lawsuit Issues To Take Center Stage in New U.S. Supreme Court Term

October 18, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

As the U.S. Supreme Court begins another session this month following its summer recess, there are a number of pending cases that could have a significant impact on labor and employment law.

While our Costa Mesa wage and hour lawyers want to be hopeful about the outcome of these cases, the reality is that the court did not hand out many decisions that favored workers during the last term.

The 2012-2013 term resulted six-out-of-six “wins” for employers. These decisions aided employers in a number of ways. In general, those included making it easier to win cases against them, discouraging such cases from being filed in the first place, making it tougher to obtain class action status and clearing the way for more cases to be decided via arbitration, which is generally considered more favorable to the business than the worker.