Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

Trump Employee Suing For LGBT Discrimination, Harassment

December 8, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A former employee of President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s golf club in New Jersey is suing the mogul and his company for what he calls “extreme” LGBT harassment and discrimination.

According to The Advocate, plaintiff worked in maintenance at New Jersey’s Trump National Golf Club two years ago. There he alleges his co-workers frequently used highly-offensive, anti-gay slurs against him in both English and Spanish. One of his fellow workers allegedly threw a rock at his head, which resulted in his needing treatment at a local hospital.

The lawsuit was filed in state court specifically alleges sexual orientation harassment, discrimination based on his sexual orientation, hostile work environment and unlawful retaliation. He also filed claims for assault and battery. He asserts his immediate supervisor directly observed his mistreatment, and yet did nothing to intervene. After the rock-throwing incident, plaintiff filed a formal complaint with his managers. At that time, his supervisor assured him the issue would be “dealt with.” However, when plaintiff went back to the manager to get further information for a police report he planned to file against his attacker, the manager refused to cooperate. Plaintiff then informed the manger he did not feel physically safe going to work after he was attacked by a co-worker, at which point he was promptly fired. Continue Reading ›

Wage-Fixing Lawsuit to Cost DreamWorks $50M

December 5, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

For allegedly conspiring with other studios to “fix” the wages of workers to an artificially low rate, the DreamWorks animation company has agreed to pay $50 million.

DreamWorks filed a motion for a preliminary settlement in U.S. District Court, which if accepted would be the largest sum to date in a case that raises issues about the employment practices of all Hollywood animation studios.

The proposed settlement considered two others approved earlier this year involving Sony Pictures and Blue Sky Studios (owned by Twentieth Century Fox), which each agreed to pay visual effects producers and animators a combined $19 million for similar allegations of wage-fixing. These agreements stem from a class action lawsuit filed two years ago by a senior character effects artists for DreamWorks as well as a clothes and hair technical director for Sony. More plaintiffs later joined the action, alleging the animation studios conspired together to fix the wages and keep career opportunities stagnant for animators, software engineers, digital artists and other workers with technical expertise. Others named in the lawsuit include Lucasfilm, Pixar, ImageMovers Digital and Disney. Continue Reading ›

Amazon Wage Lawsuit Alleges Joint Employer Status With Trucking Companies

December 2, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Amazon is working to shift its logistics duties away from parcel services like UPS and FedEx and more toward trucking company contractors. But now, the e-commerce company is facing legal challenges from those truck drivers who allege in their wage lawsuit that Amazon is a joint employer because of the level of control Amazon has over these workers.

We saw this same legal reasoning in a recent California federal lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp., which agreed to pay a franchisee’s workers $3.75 million to settle a wage-and-hour class action lawsuit filed by workers who alleged the company had joint employer status because it controlled so many elements of the job. Meanwhile, McDonald’s has another case pending before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is considering allegations of unfair labor practices as the joint employer of workers at franchise locations.

As the U.S. Department of Labor has laid out, joint employment exists when a worker is employed by two or more employers, such that the employers are responsible – individually and jointly – to comply with laws ensuring worker rights. Determining whether a company is a joint employer can be a complex process, and it involves an analysis of issues like:

Does the other employer supervise, control or direct the work?
Do employers share supervisory authority over workers?
Do employers treat employees as a pool of workers available to both?
Do they share customers or clients?
Is the employee’s work integral to the other employee’s business?
Are employer operations intermingled?

Women Settle With Police, City for Gender Discrimination By Chief, Supervisors

November 28, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Three women who reached settlements in their gender discrimination claims against a city and local police department in Iowa say that while the compensation has vindicated them, they have lost much over the last few years. They lost their jobs, of course. But says her once promising career was effectively ended. All say their lives won’t ever be the same.

One described it as the most difficult time her life. She used to wonder why women wouldn’t come forward with complaints about discrimination, why it was so under-reported. Now, sadly, she knows.

“You’re second-guessed and your told that you’re making things up,” she said. “You’re told that you’re crazy.” Continue Reading ›

L.A. Age Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Tesla

November 25, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A former engineer for Tesla Motors Inc. has sued the vehicle technology firm in a California federal court, asserting he was wrongly terminated for his age. As evidence, he cites a number of unfair criticisms and comments about his age from both co-worker and supervisors.

The 69-year-old worker was a one-time contract employee who became full-time at the company’s facility in Fremond. Two of this three bosses reportedly made negative comments about his age. When he was fired in February, he alleges his age was a primary factor.

The employment lawsuit isn’t all that surprising. In fact, many technology companies in Silicon Valley have been facing down similar allegations. For example, IBM, Google, Twitter and Microsoft have all been defendants in California age discrimination lawsuits. Older workers say the companies disregard their valuable experience and instead bring in younger – and often more attractive and cheaper – workers. Continue Reading ›

Sikh Truckers Settle Anti-Discrimination Lawsuit

November 25, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Four Sikh truckers in California have settled an anti-discrimination lawsuit against their employers who fired them for refusing to cut their hair to undergo a drug test.

In Sikhism, it’s part of a practice called Kesh that allows one’s hair to grow naturally as a matter of respect for the perfection of God’s creation. The idea is to live the way God made you. It is a tightly-held tenant, one of the five articles of faith of the Sikh religion. When refused to have have it clipped for the drug test, his employer fired him. One plaintiff called the incident, which occurred five years ago, “One of the hardest times of my life.”

Now, he and four other trucker applicants will split a $260,000 damage award to resolve allegations of religious discrimination in employment. Continue Reading ›

Sexual Harassment Complaints Plague National Park Service

November 21, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

This summer, the National Park Service celebrated 100 years since its founding. In that time, it’s helped to protect more than 84 million acres of environmental treasures and welcomes 300 million visitors to its sites annually.

But a report that was released this year following the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General (IG) released a report following a two-year investigation followed complaints filed by more than a dozen former and current female park service employees who alleged discrimination, retaliation and a sexually-hostile work environment over the course of 15 years in the River District of the Grand Canyon. That report showed that in addition to the 13 women who actually filed complaints, there were 22 others who had been suffering from workplace harassment. Then in late September, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reviewed that investigation – and a number of others from the IG on other parks – and determined the park service was responsible for a pattern of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment that spanned decades.

Of course, the park service isn’t alone in creating this kind of environment. One recent survey by Comparably found that 24 percent of women reported being sexually harassed at work. Another survey by Cosmopolitan magazine indicated 1 in 3 women is sexually harassed at work. Continue Reading ›

Court: California Doesn’t Require Companies to List PTO on Regular Paychecks

November 17, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Businesses in California don’t have keep a running tally of paid time off or vacation hours accrued on worker paychecks or wage statements, according to a new state appeals court ruling.

In Soto v. Motel 6 Operating, L.P., plaintiff alleged employer violated California Labor Code section 226, subdivision (a), by not including the monetary amount of vacation pay/ PTO on employees’ wage statements. A three-judge panel for California’s Fourth Appellate District disagreed, affirming the lower court’s ruling in favor of the company after it was sued by a former worker in 2015.

Plaintiff worked for the hotel chain for almost three years, from 2012 to 2015. A few months after she left the company, she brought a representative Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (PAGA) action for a violation of the aforementioned statute. The law says, in part, that every employer shall on a semimonthly basis at the time of payment of wages give each employee an accurate, itemized statement that shows in writing:

Gross wages earned;
Total hours worked (except those based on salary who are exempt from overtime);
Number of piece-rate units earned;
All deductions;
Net wages earned;
Inclusive dates of the period for which employee is paid;
The name of employee and last four digits of his/her social security number with wage statements that set forth “all vacation and PTO wages accrued during the applicable pay period.”

McDonald’s Corp. Settles Wage-and-Hour Class Action, Could Foreshadow Future Liabilities

November 14, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

McDonald’s Corp. continues to insist it isn’t a joint employer of workers employed by franchise restaurants. Nonetheless, it agreed to pay nearly $4 million to settle a lawsuit over the labor law violations of a franchisee – and it’s a move that has many other large companies sitting uneasy.

Attorneys for 800 workers employed at five different restaurants owned by a single franchisee announced in a federal district court in California that the international fast-food chain, based in Illinois, would pay $1.75 million in back pay to the workers and $2 million in legal fees. The class action lawsuit alleged that McDonald’s, alongside its franchisee, Smith Family LP, was in violation of California labor laws for its:

Failure to pay overtime;
Failure to maintain accurate records;
Failure to reimburse workers for time they spent cleaning their uniforms.

Sharif v. United Airlines – FMLA Dispute Ruling Favors Employer

November 11, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal statute intended to enable workers who need to take leave for legitimate personal and family needs and medical reasons to do so without retribution. A company that retaliates against a worker for using these guaranteed safety net can be held liable in court and ordered to pay damages to the worker.

In the case of Sharif v. United Airlines, Inc., a plaintiff argued this was exactly what happened to him. However, the employer argued the worker had fraudulently taken FMLA leave in order to extend his vacation and further that he made dishonest representations when the company launched an investigation of it.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ultimately sided with the employer, finding the worker had not established a triable issue of fact that the airline truly fired him for taking leave, rather than fraudulently taking leave and then lying about it. Continue Reading ›