Blog
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 22
Policy Should Establish Management’s Discretion on Pay Rates
Employers who reserve the right to set compensation rates and pay random, unexpected discretionary bonuses should include a clear handbook policy confirming these points.
A MEMORABLE $3.6M LESSON
“Unforgettable” Roofing Co. Hit for Knee-Jerk Retaliation and Intimidation
Roofer Unforgettable Coatings and its Final Touch painting subsidiary have agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) $3.6 million for falsifying pay records, not paying overtime, having employees work on weekends without pay, and intimidating those employees who dared to complain about their illegal practices.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 21
Split Shifts Policy
California employers must ensure hourly workers receive additional one-hour “split shift” pay when scheduled or required to work two distinct work periods in the same workday separated by more than a one-hour meal break, such as an employee who works the 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. shift and returns for the 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. shift.
AGE DISCRIMINATION: EMPLOYEE’S SUSPICION NOT ENOUGH
Older Worker Needs More Than Her Belief of Unequal Treatment
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently confirmed that a former worker’s self-professed speculation that her employer terminated her due to her age and national origin was insufficient to establish a discrimination claim. Opara v. Yellen.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 20
Overtime Policy
California employers must pay overtime to non-exempt employees for work in excess of eight hours per workday or 40 hours per workweek.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 64
Dept. of Labor Half-Million Assessment Against Four California Care Homes
The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the federal Department of Labor has aimed a compliance initiative at home health services, nursing homes, residential facilities and other employers focusing on care services.
Federal Court Approves Mandatory Workplace Arbitration
The California Legislature has tried for years to stop mandatory arbitration provisions in employment contracts. The Governor or a court has overruled each such effort because of conflict with the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA).
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 19
Timekeeping Policy
Employers must maintain complete and accurate timekeeping records, whether electronic, handwritten, or punch clock.
Such records protect all concerned, for example enabling an employer to refute a nonexempt employee’s claims for unpaid overtime, off-the-clock hours worked, and missed, shortened or late meal breaks.
MY PRO-BONO LIFE
While some say that the past one hundred years delivered lessons that have enabled a more stable and interdependent world, we need not look very far for signs to the contrary – decaying, ineffective educational systems, growing pharmaceutical dependence for emotional “stability,” environmental deterioration, and destruction of human rights and civil liberties to “fight” faceless terrorism.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2023
PANDEMIC LEGACY
California Governor Gavin Newsom will end the COVID-19 State of Emergency February 28, 2023.
Effective February 3, 2023, Cal/OSHA “non-emergency”/prevention regulations replaced the prior emergency temporary standards. They apply to most California workers not covered by the Aerosol Transmissible Diseases rules, to remain in effect for the next two years, the recordkeeping subsections for three years.