Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

Los Angeles Mayor Unveils New Employment App

March 18, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

We all know that finding a new job can be difficult. This is especially true if you are currently unemployed. As the saying goes, it’s easier to find a job when you already have a job. However, we talk about finding a new job, many people do not even know where to begin.

According to a recent news feature from CBS Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti has just released a new smart phone app designed to help people in the city find jobs. The way the app works is that it searches jobs from various listings and aggregates the results. This includes an average of around 50,000 jobs within city limits and another 100,000 jobs in Los Angeles County. Continue Reading ›

Unemployment Down in LA, Though Jobs Down as Well

March 15, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A recent news feature from the Los Angeles Business Journal discusses how the unemployment rate is down in Los Angeles County. At the time, reports show there are nearly 90,000 fewer jobs on the books since the start of this year.

As for the actual numbers, the unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent, which is a significant drop from the higher rates we were seeing in the past year. However, while a sharp drop in the unemployment rate is normally thought of as a positive, it may not be so in this case. In order to calculate employment, we have to figure out the number of people who are not working, but are willing and able to work, and are currently looking for employment. Continue Reading ›

Hospital Workers Protest High Salaries of Executive

March 14, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Companies expect workers to understand that when the economy is bad or if the company has experienced tough times for other reasons. While that may make some sense, it doesn’t always seem that way when the company executives are making $500,000 a year and getting millions in bonuses while telling everyone else they need to tighten their belts.

According to a recent news feature form the Orange County Register, union member employees from Kaiser Permanente are protesting these excessive salaries as well as these huge bonuses. They chose to hold the protest outside the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where the healthcare executives were holding their board meeting. The choice of venue to hold the meeting at hotel known for being extremely luxurious amenities only serves to prove their point. Continue Reading ›

Domestic Workers Protest in California

March 12, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news article from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, domestic workers participated in a demonstration in support of a proposition that would provided overtime for domestic workers permanently. There is currently a law that provides for overtime pay for domestic workers, but it was a done via a piece of legislation that is set to expire at the end of 2017.

When a new and possibly controversial bill is being proposed, it will sometimes include a date at which it is no longer in effect as part of an effort to gain more support. This is known as a sunset provision in the law. The law that is currently in effect is known as the Senate Bill 105 (SB 105) that first went into effect in January 2014 and was set to expire in in December 2017. Continue Reading ›

Costco Raises Wages to Keep Best Workers

March 10, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

As it stands now, Costco is considered one of the better employers for which you can work. This is one of the reasons they have one of the highest rates of retention for workers in the retail industry. Workers there say this is not only because of better pay, but also because of how well workers are treated by the company. Many people assume all workers want is more money, but they also want to be treated with respect, like a valued part of the company. This is one of the major reasons attrition rates will stay down.

However, it is obvious the amount of pay is the primary reason people will stay at a company, because, at the end of the day, nobody is working for a big box retailer simply because they love the work. According to a recent news feature from the Orange County Register, Costco is raising its minimum wage for employees to keep up with increased competition from other employers who have recently raised their employee wages as well. Continue Reading ›

Retail Workers Protest Job Layoffs, Salary Cuts in Los Angeles Area

March 8, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent newscast from ABC 7, a large retailer in the Los Angeles area is cutting hours, reducing hours, and laying off workers, and this is leading to large scale protests by company employees. The company is claiming that it has no choice, as it trying to survive and reemerge following a recent restructuring bankruptcy.

Things started with a strike/work stoppage this past week after several workers were fired for protesting what the company was doing. These workers are members of a major apparel worker’s union, and a spokesperson for that union says they are losing hours, jobs, and pay and can no longer afford to live and take care of their families, despite the fact that they are working as many hours as their employer will give them in what used to be a full-time job. Continue Reading ›

Female Restaurant Workers in LA Area Allege Sexual Harassment

March 6, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A little more than a year ago, employees at San Diego P.F. Chang’s location won a roughly $1 million verdict in a sexual harassment lawsuit. According to a recent news feature from the Los Angeles Times, the same defendant is alleged to have engaged in additional incidents of sexual harassment at various other Southern California locations.

This first case that ended in 2014 involved two plaintiffs. Now, there are four women claiming they were repeatedly made to be victims of sexual harassment in Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Riverside, and Chino Hills. Their contracts required employees to use a binding arbitration process as opposed to filing a complaint in a civil court. There is also another alleged victim, but her case is somewhat different, because she was only 16 years of age at the time of the alleged harassment. Continue Reading ›

Some Fear $15 Wage Minimums Will Drive Jobs Out of L.A.

March 3, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A recent opinion column in the Orange County Register takes an employer-favored look at how a $15 minimum wage could drive jobs out of California, even though there are nearby places like Orange County that are not subject to Los Angeles’ minimum wage law.

Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles are increasing their respective minimum wages, so they will be at $15 by the year 2021. The minimum wage for the county and city will gradually increase to this number, and, unless the state minimum wage is raised again, it will be $5 more per hour than what the state requires. It is always possible for a local jurisdiction such as a city or county to have a higher minimum wage than the state, but they cannot ever have a lower minimum wage, as that would be in violation of state law. Continue Reading ›

Restaurant Workers Fight for More Rights and Better Conditions

March 1, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A restaurant worker can make a pretty good living if he or she can find at job at the right location. However, as it turns out, most workers are having a tough time finding a sweet spot.

According to a recent news article from the New York Times, the vast majority of food service workers (millions) are still living in poverty, despite working for many hours a week. Further, they are often mistreated by their employers.

The owner of several popular restaurants in New York and in sporting event venues across the country is trying to do his part to change this, but the way he is going about it is to do away with tipping at his establishments. He says that every employee should be paid a decent wage, and this will help to fight what is known as income inequality. Continue Reading ›

Yahoo Faces More Employment Cuts

February 27, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Yahoo has been having trouble for a while now, and that is not much of a secret. We have already seen a major round of employee layoffs, and, according to a recent news article from the San Francisco Gate, the company is about to make another significant reduction in the number of employees. This current round of job cuts will mostly be in the magazine division of the company.

This latest round of job losses involves over 300 employees who are currently working at the company’s California location. The employees were told that their respective last days on the job would be April 18 of this year. Company officials say that cutting their workforce will reduce the overall operating budget, and if they are not able to do that, they will likely not be able to survive. Continue Reading ›