California FMLA lawyer

Small Business Workers Now Entitled to Family Leave Under California Law

October 12, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

For many employees, a new child in the family creates an emotional conflict between the need to be at work and the need to be at home. California law currently allows parents to take unpaid leave in order to bond with a new child. Unfortunately, this only applies to employers over a certain size, and millions of workers in California have been left without the legal right to parental leave. Now, a new bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in October 2017 will extend child bonding leave to employees of small businesses, as well. Continue Reading ›

Boss Comment on FMLA Leave Supports Discrimination Claim

February 10, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

FMLA, or the Family and Medical Leave Act, is a federal statute that guarantees certain employees up to 12 work-weeks worth of unpaid leave annually, without fear of losing their job. The law requires that workers covered by the law maintain worker health benefits during this time, and is intended to help workers balance their family and work responsibilities by granting them the ability to take a reasonable amount of unpaid leave for certain medical and family reasons. It also seeks to help the legitimate interests of employers and promote equal opportunity for men and women. It can be used in a number of different circumstances, including the birth of a child or to care for an immediate family member or spouse who is suffering a serious health condition.

In the recent case of Chumbley v. Board of Education for Peoria District 150, a school district employee has filed an FMLA lawsuit in federal court in Illinois, alleging he was fired because he went on FMLA leave act. As the Society for Human Resource Management reports, the district fired him while he was on leave, with administrators insisting it was because two unrelated performance-related issues were discovered during that time. However, a remark made by plaintiff’s supervisor regarding his FMLA leave supports his claim that the termination was in large part due to the fact that he took this protected leave.

According to court records, plaintiff was hired in 2005 as a director of research, testing and assessment. The position was to last three years, after which time it would be renewed automatically every year, unless the district gave notice that it wouldn’t be renewed by April of the contract year. In March 2010, the district informed plaintiff that it intended to reassign him to a teaching post, but then re-hired him as a director position as an employee-at-will. Continue Reading ›

Report: Increase in Paid Family Leave in California

April 30, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news feature from Benefits News, a new labor law taking effect in 2018 will increase the amount of pay for family leave based upon a percentage of their average weekly wages during normal (not overtime) working hours.

The state employment law will provide California’s workers with six week of paid family leave, and this will be administered through a state unemployment provision of the labor code. While this may sound confusing, Governor Jerry Brown signed Bill 908 into law that will require workers in California to have 55 percent of their average weekly wages paid for up to six weeks a year if that employee decided to take the up to six weeks of family leave to which all workers are entitled each year. Continue Reading ›

New Law Affecting Employee School Leave In California

January 17, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news article from Capital Public Radio, a new law has taken effect in the state of California that is designed to protect workers who need to take off time from work to handle a school emergency with their children or to enroll the child in daycare or school.

This legislation was authorized by California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat representing Santa Barbara, and she said the new law reflects a modest change to help working families make ends meet while taking care of their children and making sure they get a good education. Continue Reading ›

Family Medical Leave Act Expansion Mulled by Lawmakers

November 7, 2013 | by Nassiri Law

It’s been two decades since lawmakers passed legislation that would protect employees who were coping with a serious illness or family adjustment, either personally or in their immediate family.

Today, our employment lawyers in California understand the law, the Family and Medical Leave Act, better known as FMLA, is continuing to evolve.

The way the law is currently written, workers at companies with more than 50 employees are entitled to receive up to 12 work weeks of leave off in a period of 12 months for one of the following reasons: