Author Archive
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 84
WOLFMAN’S EXTINCTION LOOMS
Supermarket Chain Charged for Allowing Years of Sexual Harassment
Fred Meyer Stores, Inc. is a northwest supermarket institution, a rags-to-riches monument. Namesake Frederick G. Meyer (originally Frederick Grubmeyer) began in Portland, Oregon in 1908, “selling coffee from a horse-drawn cart to workers at farms and lumber camps.” https://www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/history. The chain’s watchword for a century-plus has been Customer service (with a capital “C”), a safe, convenient and now gargantuan one-stop shopping experience emulated by Target and others.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 83
SALONS NAILED
Parlors Pay Dearly for Workplace Violations
The federal Department of Labor, through its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has secured a $753,500 judgment against three Rhode Island nail salons and their owner for…
GRIN AND BEAR IT
Political Views in the Workplace
Several California laws prohibit employers from taking action against workers for political activities, affiliations or speech.
HIRING AUTHORIZED WORKERS
I-9 Forms Best Practices
Employers must properly complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (the I-9 Form) for every new hire.
SMOOTH SAILING
Workplace Policy Handbook & Forms for 2024
Written Labor Code-compliant policies make for smoother workplace interactions and relationships, minimizing the changes of worker legal claims.
PAGA MONSTER DECLAWED
Major Relief for Responsible Employers
For more than a decade, use of California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) against conscientious employers – holding many up for civil suit ransom as the better choice to business closure – has grown to pandemic proportions with little benefit to the workers the law was designed to protect.
CALIFORNIA MINIMUM WAGE MID-YEAR RATE INCREASES
Effective January 1, 2024, California minimum wage increased to $16 per hour for all employers, regardless of size.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 43
WORK TIME OFF FOR VIOLENT CRIME VICTIMS
Employers must provide unpaid leave of any length to victims of crimes or public offenses (domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or crimes causing physical or mental injury), as well as to those threatened with physical injury (Crime Leave).
KEEPING PEACE
Workplace Violence Prevention Implementation Deadline is July 1, 2024
As previously reported, effective July 1, 2024, California employers of any size must develop an effective workplace violence prevention plan (the Plan) for each work area and operation; provide violence prevention training; maintain violence incident logs; and keep records of incident investigations and hazard identification, evaluation and correction.
DEFINING “NO”
Mandatory Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
Every two years, employers with five or more on payroll must provide at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive sexual harassment prevention training and education to all California supervisory employees and at least one hour of such training to all nonsupervisory employees working on-site or remotely within California. New employees must complete this training within six months of hire.