EEOC Publishes Controversial Enforcement Guidelines On July 14, 2014, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published its first “guidance” on pregnancy discrimination since 1983. EEOC enforcement guidances are the agency’s interpretations of law. This set offers EEOC views on what constitutes unlawful pregnancy-based discrimination under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), […]
Constructive Remedy or a Job-Killer? The California Assembly passed earlier this year the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014” (Assembly Bill [AB] 1522), sending it over to the Senate for consideration. If passed into law, the measure would mandate all employers to provide at least three paid sick days per calendar year to all […]
Assembly Bill 2416 Would Permit Employees to Impose Liens on All Employer Property for Alleged (but Unproven) Wage Claims California’s controversial Assembly Bill (AB) 2416, the “Wage Theft Recovery Act” continues to make progress through the Legislature. Patterned on a unique Wisconsin law, the Act, if passed, would enable an employee to create a lien […]
New Court Decision on Delivery Drivers Shows the Issue Requires Detailed Analysis The dividing line between properly classified employees and independently contracted workers can often be about as clear as mud. The June, 2014 decision from the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ruiz v. Affinity Logistics Corp illustrates the perils of a company’s […]
“Paid Family Leave” Program and Workers’ Comp Affected Employees covered under California’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program may receive up to six weeks of state-funded disability benefits to take time off for baby-bonding or to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent or registered domestic partner. California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) administers this program […]
Bill to Push Minimum to $11.00, $12.00, then $13.00 per Hour Is Halfway Through the Legislature As earlier reported, California’s minimum hourly wage will rise to $9.00 on July 1, 2014 and to $10.00 on January 1, 2016, thus ranking among the highest in the country. See, California Minimum Wage Increasing and Amended Minimum Wage […]
Effective April 18, 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) doubled the penalty for an employer’s failure to post that agency’s “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” notice, from $110 to $210 per violation.See, 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section 1601.30(b). The required notice includes the basics for: The 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title […]
As recently covered in our California Minimum Wage Increasing blog, California’s minimum will rise to $9.00 an hour on July 1, 2014. Also by July 1, California employers must prominently post the new Division of Labor Standards Enforcement Minimum Wage Order (MW-2014) specifying this $9.00 per hour minimum requirement as well as the $10.00 per […]
An Employer is Not Responsible to Pay Off-the-Clock Work Time about Which It Knows Nothing A company normally must compensate an employee for any time he/she put in service to that company even if such work was not authorized. Thus, while an employer can issue policy barring overtime work or policy requiring advance approval for […]
Underpayment of Minimum Wage and Overtime Is Foul Play Thirty-three former minor league ball players seek to pull back the curtain on alleged system-wide violations of minimum wage or overtime. Their federal class action suit challenges Commissioner Bud Selig, the Office of the Commissioner, and, in effect, every baseball team in the country to remedy […]