Archive for the ‘Employee Policies, Handbook, Forms’ Category
BRINKER DECISION AND REST PERIODS
California Employers Get a Break The California Supreme Court has recently clarified this state’s workplace rest period laws. Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum) (April 12, 2012). California law requires employers to provide their hourly employees with one paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked or “major fraction thereof.” The Court confirmed […]
BRINKER CALIFORNIA’S MEAL BREAK BREAKTHROUGH
Employers are No Longer the Lunch Police In 2000, California enacted Labor Code 226.7, requiring employers to pay an employee an extra hour of compensation for “each work day that the [required] meal or rest period is not provided.” Fueled by that financial incentive, nearly overnight, and for the past 11 years, the vast majority […]
UNPAID INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS
When Employers Need to Pay Wages Hiring students for temporary unpaid internships, while feasible, is laden with potential legal pitfalls for the unwary and uninformed. See, e.g., “The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not,” The New York Times, April 2, 2010. Employers must pay at least minimum wage to any worker who provides any labor and […]
TOP NEW CALIFORNIA EMPLOYMENT LAWS FOR 2012
Over the past several months, we have been alerting our readers to important California labor laws new in 2012. Here’s a summary: California’s Wage Theft Prevention Act; Employers Must Supply an Additional Detailed Written Notice to Most New Hires: In addition to existing written notification requirements (including rights to equal employment opportunity, minimum wage and […]
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Ministers May Not Sue The U.S. Supreme Court has issued its first decision on the “ministerial exception” to workplace discrimination laws, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (January 11, 2012). In a unanimous ruling, the Court found that while certain laws authorize workers to sue their […]
CALIFORNIA’S EXEMPTIONS FOR OVERTIME PAY
California’s workplace overtime rules do not apply to those workers who qualify for exemption under one or more categories, including: ● Executive Exemption: Executive employees are exempt from overtime if paid on a salary (current minimum is $640 per week; $2,773.33 monthly) and if primarily (over 50%) engaged office or non-manual management of at least […]
WORKING OVERTIME IN CALIFORNIA
Basic Rules and Rates for Weekly or Daily Hours California requires employees who are not “exempt” receive overtime pay for time worked beyond forty hours in any one workweek or after eight hours in a workday. A “workweek” is any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week beginning at any hour […]
COMMISSIONS FOR TERMINATED EMPLOYEES
Clearly Written Agreements are the “Ounce” of Prevention Commissions payable to former employees present a special set of issues for California business. The importance of actions to prevent disputes increases over 2012 as the state will require all employee commission agreements to be in writing by December 31. See, “Employee Commissions” California requires that all […]
CALIFORNIA WAGE THEFT PROTECTION ACT
State Reveals Its Template for Notice to All Newly Hired Employees Our October 21, 2011 blog “Added Notice Requirement for California Employers” alerts employers to a required notice to newly hired workers, effective January 1, 2012, specifying basic but vital information. Under the Wage Theft Protection Act (Assembly Bill [A.B.] 469), the notice must include: […]
ADMINISTRATORS AND OVERTIME PAY IN CALIFORNIA
Harris v. Superior Court Decision Confirms Administrative Exemption Requires Detailed Case-by-Case Analyses and Job Descriptions The Supreme Court of California ruled today there are no easy assumptions when an employer seeks to qualify company “administrators” as exempt from overtime. Francis Harris v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. S156555, opinion filed December 29, 2011. […]