Author Archive
EMPLOYEE OR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR?
Many laws and rules dictate whether an employer can legitimately classify someone as an independent contractor (I/C). They include California’s strict ABC three-factor test and the numerous exceptions enacted by the legislature as part of AB 2257, as addressed in our What’s New in 2021 series (links below).
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 10
SCRUTINY SCOPE
To safeguard personnel as well as protect company property from theft or destruction, an employer can search and inspect an employee’s workspace, such as a personal office or cubicle. Yet where should the company draw the line?
MERCURY MANAGEMENT
Current temperatures well into the hundreds require employers to safeguard workers from heat illness.
NAME CHANGER
Combatting discrimination, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) investigates and mediates or prosecutes complaints under the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
RELIEF FOR ONLINE BUSINESSES
In recent years, disability discrimination suits have skyrocketed from the visually impaired alleging online businesses deprive their access for lack of special reader features.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 9
GOOD RELATIONSHIPS BREAKING BAD
Improper conflicts of interest occur whenever employees are involved in circumstances dividing their loyalties between the employer’s best interest and the employee’s or a third party’s.
PRECIOUS PAPER
Wage-related lawsuits are a booming California industry. An employer’s “ounce of prevention” must include continual creation and maintenance of complete and accurate pay records. Even if a former worker’s allegations are groundless, deficient recordkeeping leaves a company wide open to wage “theft” claims – e.g., off-the-clock unpaid work hours; meal period deprivation – that can be very difficult to disprove.
TIME CUSHION
California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) is a temporary disability program administered under the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD) to provide wage replacement benefits when a person must be off work in certain circumstances.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 8
KEEPING IT TIGHT
Notwithstanding the decriminalization of marijuana use in this state, California employers are within their rights – and right minds – to establish and enforce strict rules on employee use, possession, and/or sale of illegal drugs, controlled substances and alcohol.
BOOZE SCHOOL
The Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) Training Program Act of 2017 (AB 1221) rendered formerly voluntary training for alcohol beverage servers and their managers mandatory.