Author Archive
PROPER FASHION POLICING
To promote business image, California employers may dictate reasonable workplace dress and grooming standards. Yet, managers cannot be dictators if certain protected worker preferences are in play.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 57
CAR WASH DUSTED
The California Labor Commissioner has again looked under the hood of the car wash industry, citing Torrance Car Wash more than $800,000 for wage theft violations affecting 35 workers, including minimum wage, overtime and meal and rest breaks.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 56
PARTY POOPER PAYOFF
Those who dread that mass of co-workers annually aiming a horrible rendition of “happy birthday” in his or her direction can now take heart. They are not alone. A Kentucky jury has awarded a man $450,000 for his employer’s alleged failure to prevent a panic attack triggered by an at-work celebration of his birthday.
MORE DISCRIMINATION PROTECTIONS COMING?
Pending Assembly Bill (AB) 2182 would add “family responsibilities”— “the obligations of an employee or applicant to provide care for a minor child or care recipient” – to the ever-growing list of classes protected from discrimination by employers with five or more employees under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2022
KICKIN’ CORONA
California employers are still not out of the heavily-regulated pandemic woods. On April 21, 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board approved the third amendment to Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS).
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 55
CHICKENS ROOSTED
The California Labor Commissioner has cited Foster Farms and its staffing agencies $3,783,800 for failing to notify nearly 3,500 temp workers of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave benefits (SPSL).
HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER
Clear, written employee policies are the foundation for workplace legal compliance and productivity. Prolonged pandemic conditions and California’s earned reputation as a litigation hotbed underscore the importance of sound, across-the-boards written rules and protocols.
FULL TIME TO OVERTIME?
California Assembly Bill (AB) 2932 seeks to redefine the “workweek” from 40 hours to 32 hours for employers with more than 500 on payroll.
HIGH TIME OFF
AB 2188, pending in the California Assembly, seeks to prohibit employers, other than those in building and construction trades, from discriminating against workers for:
PREVENTION MEDICINE
Employment policy doesn’t have to be written but you will never hear this firm saying that. Particularly in litigation happy California, clearly stating personnel expectations and boundaries in a regularly updated manual or other compilation is not just good sense, it can amount to business suicide prevention.