Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

The Pandemic’s Potential to Increase California Employment Lawsuits

October 28, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on workplaces across the country. Non-essential businesses were shuttered for weeks or months, workplace policies changed and many employers and employees alike have been affected somehow.

California employment lawsuits were prevalent enough even in better times, but the pandemic is what we call a “workplace agitator.” It’s something that impacts a wide swath of people in a negative way, contributing to the kind of economic and personal stress that can heighten underlying workplace tensions.

It’s no surprise then that many Los Angeles employment attorneys are noting an uptick in employment-related claims, especially because there may be newly-acquired legal rights or requirements that employers may potentially violate.

New California Labor Law Gives Workers Better Family Leave Protections

October 21, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

A new law California bill recently signed into law will provide millions of workers employed by small businesses additional family leave protections that can be used for time off to care for a family member who is sick or new baby.

SB 1383 requires companies employing five workers or more to extend a full three months of family leave (unpaid) to workers – starting Jan. 1, 2021. As it stands, the only employees who can expect to take the full three months of family leave are those working for a company with 50 or more employees. New parents can take parental leave if they are employed by a company with at least 20 employees. But many families couldn’t access these job protections or the state’s family leave benefits program, into which all workers pay. The state benefits grant up to eight weeks of partial pay (recently raised from six weeks) based on a worker’s weekly salary.

Furthermore, the new law allows new parents employed by the same company to each by given the full 12 weeks of leave – rather than giving employers the option to compel parents to split their leave time. Continue Reading ›

Examining California Rest Break Laws for Agricultural Workers

October 14, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

All employees in California – including agricultural workers – are protected by certain rights under California’s labor laws, which include the right to minimum wages, meal and rest breaks and heat recovery breaks. There are more than 70,000 farms statewide spanning nearly 25 million acres of land. But these workers, more than 400,000 of whom in California were considered essential to our economic and practical sustainability through the pandemic, remain vulnerable.

Recently, farmworkers in a San Joaquin County labor lawsuit were compensated for rest breaks that were not paid. However, the California appellate court would not allow them recovery under two separate statutes. Continue Reading ›

Transgender Man Files Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit

October 10, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

California law protects both transgender and pregnant workers, but rarely do employment law cases combine the two. Recently in New Jersey, a transgender man filed an employment lawsuit against Amazon alleging he was harassed and turned down for a promotion after revealing his pregnancy to his employer.

According to NBC News, the man informed his boss about the pregnancy in the summer of last year. His boss disclosed this information to other managers, and word spread throughout the facility. Soon, other warehouse workers were bullying and harassing him about using the men’s bathroom. Suddenly, his work performance came under fire. He was placed on paid leave after complaining to human resources. When he returned, he learned he’d been demoted to a position of “item picker,” which required him to lift heavy items on a routine basis. At that point, he told HR that the weight lifting requirements were causing him pain in his abdomen. Again, he was placed on paid leave and told to acquire a doctor’s recommendation for pregnancy-related accommodations. He did so, he said, but was denied.

He was then offered a promotion at a different facility – one that would have granted him a reprieve from the people harassing him – but that was later rescinded and he was fired. His termination came the same month he was to give birth. He now alleges gender discrimination and pregnancy discrimination, and is seeking recovery of lost wages and benefits as well as coverage of legal fees and punitive damages. Continue Reading ›

California Wage Theft Lawsuit Costs McDonald’s $26 Million

October 7, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

Tens of thousands of California fast-food workers at corporate-owned McDonald’s restaurants in California will be getting a cut of the $26 million class action lawsuit over years-old allegations of wage theft.

On average, each employee can expect to receive about $330, though some may have as much as $4,000 coming to them.

Business Insider reports the lawsuit was first filed seven years ago, with the corporation accused of engaging in numerous illegal practices to scam workers of fair wages, including:

Not paying all wages when they were due.
Not providing rest and meal breaks for workers.
Not paying overtime wages.
Not paying minimum wages.

Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Soul Cycle

September 28, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

A mere month after giving birth, a former executive at SoulCycle was fired. Now, according to Business Insider, she’s suing for “blatant” pregnancy discrimination. She alleges in her 32-page complaint that the company’s CEO openly and vulgarly mocked parental leave prior to her taking it. She said the company “unforgivably” used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to fire her, when the actual reason was discriminatory.

At the time of her termination, plaintiff had worked for the corporation 7 years and oversaw more than 400 instructors. When she revealed her pregnancy late last year, she said, her superiors began treating her differently. She was told she’d be moved to a new position once her maternity leave was up. This new position, she says, was effectively a demotion, and there was no legitimate reason given for it. She had her child in late March. Little more than a month later, she was told her position was eliminated. She reports she wasn’t the only one. Three other women who had recently returned from maternity leave or were pregnant were also let go.

Her complaint had been filed after two instructors publicly quite their jobs over concerns about racial inclusivity. Continue Reading ›

5 Types of Wrongful Termination in California Employment Lawsuits

September 21, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

Wrongful termination in California goes beyond a firing that some think was unjustified. As our Los Angeles wrongful termination attorneys can explain, it refers to an employment agreement that’s ended by the employer in violation of the worker’s legal rights. It means that the reason for one’s firing was because of discriminatory reasons, in violation of the employment contract or in retaliation for the employee exercising his or her legal rights.

It’s important to point out that California is an at-will state, so companies can fire employees for any time without cause, reason or advance notice. In order for one’s firing to be considered wrongful termination, former employees need to show it was due to reasons expressly prohibited by state or federal law.

The laws most commonly cited in wrongful termination cases include:

California Wage Theft Settlement Against LA Restaurant Companies

September 15, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

Three restaurant companies based in Southern California will have to pay nearly $500,000 to settle claims that they systematically underpaid workers in violation of Los Angeles County’s minimum wage ordinance. The ordinance since 2016 has required companies in unincorporated Los Angeles County – regardless of size – to increase wages annually through each July through 2021, when it will be $15/hourly.

As our L.A. wage theft attorneys understand it, county investigators with the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs discovered the restaurant corporations underpaid nearly 100 workers going back at least three years. Although the companies were reportedly in compliance with state minimum mandatory wage laws, they did not comply with the local ordinance. A representative from one of the restaurants said it was a misunderstanding, as two of the 19 locations owned by the companies are technically located in unincorporated L.A. County, despite having mailing addresses in the incorporated municipalities. While the state minimum wage for workers was $12 or $13 hourly (depending on the size of the company), the county’s minimum wage was $14.25. When the mistake was discovered, the spokesman said the companies immediately moved to rectify it.

County investigators said whether it was an honest mistake or the motives were more insidious, employers have a responsibility to pay their employees fairly. When they do not, there are consequences. Continue Reading ›

Gender Discrimination Rampant at Pinterest, Former Exec Alleges in Lawsuit

September 10, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

Pinterest, a $21 billion company that markets mostly to women on its virtual pinboards, is accused by its former chief operating officer of rampant sexism, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination. She alleges she was fired for speaking out about disparate treatment between female and male top executives.

As The New York Times reports, the former COO says in her San Francisco Superior Court lawsuit that she was excluded out of key meetings, given professional feedback that was highly gendered and she was paid less than her male peers when she was first brought on. She learned the pay disparity after the company filed to go public last year. She talked about how decisions were often made in informal discussions among male colleagues; the “meeting after the meeting.” Despite being the No. 2 executive, she said she endured a culture of constant exclusion. When she ultimately spoke up about it, she said, she was dismissed (the dispute compared to a domestic squabble), maligned (told she wasn’t working collaboratively enough) and ultimately fired.

As our Orange County gender discrimination lawyers can explain, this type of discriminatory action in the upper echelons of corporate America may look slightly different than at other levels, particularly as it can be more subtle. But one thing our employment lawyers have noted no matter the pay grade is that workers who speak out about unfair treatment may find themselves may find themselves a target of demotion, loss of benefits or firing. This in itself is an illegal act called retaliation. Continue Reading ›

L.A. Employment Lawyer Talks Ageism, COVID-19 and the Rights of Older Workers

September 4, 2020 | by Nassiri Law

One increasingly common side effect of the COVID-19 is a virulent uptick in ageism. As a longtime L.A. employment lawyer, I’ve noted an uptick in ageist attitudes in the social media sphere that is undoubtedly pervading workplaces as well.

Research published in the journal Age and Ageing found that older people were misrepresented and undervalued in the public discourse surrounding the pandemic, and that some policies that may have purported to be “protective” of older populations were in fact patronizing and possibly illegal.

The risk of serious coronavirus complications statistically increases with age, per the CDC. This may have prompted some employers to engage in age discrimination against older workers and prospective employees. Continue Reading ›