Los Angeles employment lawyer

Abercrombie Workers Win Wage Settlement

February 13, 2018 | by Nassiri Law

According to a report last year by CareerBuilder, research conducted on behalf of the site shows 78 percent of American workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. The number breaks down further: 38 percent responded they sometimes live paycheck-to-paycheck, 17 percent said usually and 23 percent answered always. The overall percentage goes up for women (81 percent).

CareerBuilder’s chief human resources officer described these employee financial struggles as a problem for employers, citing that stressed out workers are less focused and less productive. Still, while a happy workforce can help financial standing long term, many employers can’t help but focus on immediate gains made by keeping wages as low as possible. Others may go as far as to dig into those already low wages even further to pad out their bottom line by making employees cover expenses related to the job.

This is what about 250,000 former and current employees of Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, and other affiliated stores are claiming happened to them, as far back as 2009, according to a report from The Columbus Dispatch. Workers alleged they were forced to buy and wear clothing from their stores on the job, though the company denies these claims. Continue Reading ›

Former Disney Employee Sues for Discrimination

January 18, 2018 | by Nassiri Law

Our employment lawyers know how important it is for companies to have both strong anti-discrimination policies and enforcement of those policies. Not only are acts of discrimination against protected groups illegal, but they are also just plain bad business. Everyone wants to feel safe going to work, and no one wants to feel like they have to choose between their income and the values they hold sacred.

Disney is one company under scrutiny after a former employee of Walt Disney World in Florida filed a lawsuit (Sebti v. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. Inc.) in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida alleging he was discriminated against for his nationality.

The employee alleges he once found a noose made of duct tape in his office. He also allegedly was not allowed breaks for prayer during Ramadan. Plaintiff further says he was unfairly passed up for promotions and that the actions against him were a response to his Moroccan nationality. Continue Reading ›

Tension Over California Bill That Aims to Prevent Firing Workers Over Communist Affiliation

June 15, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

Little Saigon is a neighborhood that is south of Los Angeles that is home to many people of Vietnamese heritage. Many of the Vietnamese immigrants who came to America and settled in Little Saigon are very much against the communist party, since the communists assumed control of their homeland following the Second World War. This was the primary reason for America’s participation in the War in Vietnam.

According to a recent news story for the Orange County Register, officials for the area are very upset about an Assembly Bill (AB 22) that, if passed into law, would prevent state employees from being fired based upon membership in the Communist Party. This is actually currently allowed under a law that was passed during the 1950s during the Cold War. AB 22 passed in the State Assembly by a margin of 41 to 30. There was not a single yes vote from Orange County, and that is likely due to the opposition of this law from the many Vietnamese residents. Continue Reading ›

Facebook Aims to Hire 3,000 Workers to Fight “Streaming Violence”

May 10, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

Since Facebook introduced its live stream feature on its incredibly popular social media application, people have been recording many different aspects of their daily lives and posting them to their Facebook walls. In some of these cases, we see people ranting about politics, or perhaps someone will post a video of himself or herself driving in traffic with a smartphone camera sitting on the dashboard.

In addition to these common variety live feed posts (which can be watched at any time later as well), there has been an alarming trend of people being beaten, kidnapped and even killed that have been posted on Facebook and watched by millions. There have also been several suicide attempts or actual suicides posted on the social media site. Continue Reading ›

Farmers Fear Immigration Raids Also

April 26, 2017 | by Nassiri Law

Since President Donald Trump has assumed office, he has followed through on his controversial plan to deport as many undocumented immigrants from the country as possible. While he stressed that it would only be criminals who would be deported, the relatively loose definition of what a criminal is in terms of undocumented immigration is causing more deportations and more worry in the immigrant community that many thought would be the case.

However, it is not only the workers and their families who fear an immigration crackdown, according to a recent news report from the Los Angeles Daily News. Farmers are very worried by the immigration raids, because they rely on immigrant workers to harvest their crops. It is not just an issue of pay. As it turns out, Americans have very little interest in picking fruit and vegetables, even when they are being paid more than minimum wage. Continue Reading ›

SuperShuttle Files Lawsuit in California Over Worker Classification

May 24, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news feature from the Los Angeles Times, SuperShuttle has filed a lawsuit in California to get all of its many drivers classified as independent contractors. There are a variety of reasons for this, but it is primarily because company leaders do not want to have to carry liability insurance for their drivers and do not want to be responsible for any negligence committed by any other drivers. Company administrators to avoid paying workers’ compensation or having to spend money on workers’ compensation insurance.

When we hear the term ridesharing, we often think of Uber or Lyft. These companies allow a rider to go on his or her smartphone and request a ride. The driver will show up in a car that is self-owned and does not have any logos or paint scheme related to the ride sharing company. Originally, Lyft drivers would have a large pink mustache affixed to the front of their car, but the company seems to be getting away from that. Continue Reading ›

California Farmworkers’ Union Brings Fight to DC

May 23, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

California has a very diverse economy, and this is one of the reasons it is such a great place to live. In terms of jobs, there are a variety of different sectors and opportunities not available to residents of other states. Not only do we have the world’s leading computer design and software industry located in Silicon Valley, but we have large amounts of farmland on which a large portion of our nation’s food supply is produced each year.

With all of these farms and agricultural industries within our state’s borders, there are a lot of jobs available for farmworkers. However, in addition to great opportunity for farmworkers, we also see many farmworkers being taken advantage of by employers who care more about making money than they do about farmworker safety, health, and quality of life.

According to a recent news article from The Daily Caller, a decent sized crowd of California farm worker union supporters showed in Washington, DC to protest what is happening in relation to a California farmworker labor dispute. Continue Reading ›