Yet another California age discrimination lawsuit has been filed against tech company Hewlett Packard, which has been the subject of ongoing allegations of favoritism toward younger employees.age discrimination attorney

The 55-year-old plaintiff in the latest case worked for the firm for more almost 40 years, most recently as a research and development buyer. He asserts the company targeted older workers – including himself – in a 2012 layoff. After filing a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the government gave him permission to sue (which is a mandated step in the process). He is now seeking class action status.

The San Diego Tribune reports the DFEH has been in receipt of nearly three dozen age discrimination complaints made against this same company since mid-2012. Two dozen of those complainants were given the green light to file an employment lawsuit. More than half a dozen were dismissed or withdrawn and one was deemed outside the department’s jurisdiction. In a USA Today in-depth analysis on age discrimination complaints the DFEH in California, Hewlett Packard ranked No. 1 among Silicon Valley firms. Others included Cisco Systems, Apple, Google, Oracle and Genetech. Other companies like Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Intel and Tesla Motors also made the list. The majority of those complaints alleged wrongful termination, while some did allege age discrimination in the course of hiring and promotion. Continue Reading ›

Employee misclassification is a major issue faced by workers in Orange County and in the Greater Los Angeles area.   This is an issue taken very seriously by the state as the legislature passed Senate Bill 459 in 2011 to provide penalties to employers for willfully misclassifying employees.  This law is enforced by the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), and there are fines of no less than $5,000 and no more than $25,000 per offense.

California employment lawyersEmployee misclassification involves the act of willfully treating an employee as an independent contractor for the purpose of avoiding the payment of overtime wages, workers’ compensation, and employment benefits afforded to full-time employees.  This is a serious violation that occurs frequently in many industries including farming, and the newer so-called “on demand” or “gig” economy.  Continue Reading ›

Wage and hour disputes in Los Angeles are an increasingly common complaint. Employers sometimes cut corners to avoid paying workers the full amount. In some instances, workers are mis-classified as independent contractors rather than employees, depriving them of receipt of important benefits, such as workers’ compensation and overtime pay.

This is increasingly becoming problematic in this digital age, as a recent case out of Northern California highlights. The San Francisco Chronicle reports an employee of a major online retailer is claiming the employer is not giving breaks and not paying overtime at his employment location.

employment discrimination lawyersOf course, it is possible for employers to make an honest clerical error and short a paycheck merely by accident. However, even then, the employee should be able to point out the mistake and get the issue resolved fairly quickly.  If the employer is not willing to promptly correct the payroll issue, this is a good sign there may be bigger problems at hand. Continue Reading ›

The time between Black Friday and Christmas Day is always a hectic one for those who work in the retail industry.  This is the time when sales are often the highest, which is where the term “Black Friday” is derived, as store ledgers move from the red to the black. Much has changed in recent years in terms of how employers staff their businesses during this time, and some of these updates are creating a significant hardship for these hard-working employees.

employee misclassificationAccording to a recent news article from The Los Angeles Times, retailers, regardless of their size, are using computers to maximize staffing at times that correlate with higher sales. They are also using many more temporary employees than ever before.  This way they can safe costs by not having as many year-round employees. Continue Reading ›

Labor contracts can involve very complicated issues.  When dealing with unions, there is the use of collective bargaining to create contracts that bind the employer and the employees. As the nation increasingly moves toward a so-called “right-to-work” system in many jurisdictions, employers are doing whatever they can to take that collective power away from employees.  According to a recent news article from The Los Angeles Times, the California State Supreme Court has just issued a ruling that allows the state to essentially force farm workers and unions to enter in binding agreements.employment attorney

To understand this issue, it is necessary to look at the recent history, and how this all came about. For the past several decades, the largest produce company in the state and the United Farm Workers union had been fighting about whether the union could be de-certified. There have been many cases and arbitration agreements over the past 20 or so years on this issue.  Continue Reading ›

The unemployment rate is one of the factors economists use to determine the health of the market.  When more people are working it historically means that companies are prospering and the economy is getting stronger. Currently, the unemployment rate is down in Los Angeles and Orange County according to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Daily News. While this is generally good news, new issues arise as our economy has largely shifted into what has been termed an on demand economy.worker-199x300

This sounds like a good thing, but there are ways companies can use this newer model to take advantage of employees and not provide them with all of the wages and benefits to which they are rightfully entitled.  This is often done through what employment attorneys call employee misclassification. Continue Reading ›

While we can all hope that in 2017, in a state like California, we are beyond the days when workers have to worry about racial discrimination while working at a major corporation, if recent allegations are true, it seems there is still a long way to go until all workers get the respect and dignity they deserve. According to a recent news article from U.S. News & World Report, a former employee of a multinational tech firm that manufactures electric vehicles has alleged he was called the n-word while on the job.  He also alleged in his employment discrimination lawsuit that his place of employment was a “hotbed for racist behavior.”

California whistleblower lawyersIn this recently-filed complaint, the plaintiff has alleged while he was working on the assembly line, both supervisors and other workers repeatedly used racial slurs when speaking about him or to him, as well other black employees.  He said that he made a formal report to human resources, but there was never any investigation conducted or any further action taken.  He further alleged that he was told to have a thicker skin about the racial slurs.  He is not the only employee making these allegations since there was a complaint filed several months ago in which three black employees made similar allegations against the company. Continue Reading ›

Sexual harassment in the workplace is certainly nothing new.  It has been going on for as long as there has been a workplace.  However, there has been a recent slew of sexual harassment allegations against actors, comedians, journalists, and politicians in the news.  One positive that has come out of this is that all of these reports of sexual harassment and abuse surfacing have employer both female and male alleged victims to have the courage to come and tell their stories.  According to a recent news article from 89.3 KPCC, this increase in attention and the need to report sexual harassment has led more complaints being filed in the workplace.sexual harassment

This is actually a positive since it does not mean there has been an increase in incidents in sexual harassment as far as we know, but the alleged victims of this harassment are feeling empowered and are now able to speak out where they would not in the past do to fear of retaliation.  Continue Reading ›

Recently, California enacted legislation designed to remove some of the traditional barriers to employment.  The new law bans most employers from asking about criminal history and past salary history in an initial application.  Once an applicant has been offered a position, a criminal background check may be performed for certain occupations, but the idea behind the law is to put all applicants on equal footing during the hiring process.  It is far too easy for an employer to skip over an applicant with a criminal history.  The ban on asking about salary history is designed to require employers to make a salary offer based upon the demands of the position and the strength of the applicant. If the prospective employer knows how much an applicant was making before, they would know the base amount an employee took in the past and this would let them make a lower offer in many cases.

employment law attorneysAs is discussed in a recent article from the Los Angeles Times, that stated reason for banning asking  about salary history, among others, is to narrow the gender gap in pay.  To get an idea of the actual pay gender gap, we can look to data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research which shows that while women make up nearly half of the entire workforce, the gap is still very much in existence and women earn on average, 80 cents on the dollar as compared to a man in the same or similar job.  Continue Reading ›

In an effort to ensure enforcement of zero tolerance policies when it comes to sexual harassment in California state senate offices, lawmakers have announced steps will be taken to hire outside attorneys for any investigations that involve abuse of or by staff or legislators. As reported by The Los Angeles Times, this breaks a long-standing practice of internally investigating sexual harassment complaints. sexual harassment

It’s also reflective of the national tone with regard to sexual harassment incidents, after the fallout with Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement across social media and in numerous rallies and marches. Recently, hundreds marched in Hollywood against sexual harassment, as people from all different professions have come forward to demand accountability for those who commit sexual harassment and the institutions that protect them.

The decision to revise the sexual harassment investigation policies within the California Senate was unveiled hours after there were allegations of inappropriate behavior against Tony Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia. Two capital staffers have accused him of misconduct. One allegation was made by a 19-year-old intern, who alleged Mendoza invited her to his hotel room to drink alcohol, despite her being underage. Another allegation was made by a 19-year-old Senate fellow. Three former aides were reportedly fired after making complaints about the interactions with the young woman. Senate officials have denied there is any connection between those terminations and the sexual harassment complaints.  Continue Reading ›

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