Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
GRIN AND BEAR IT
Political Views in the Workplace
Several California laws prohibit employers from taking action against workers for political activities, affiliations or speech.
HIRING AUTHORIZED WORKERS
I-9 Forms Best Practices
Employers must properly complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (the I-9 Form) for every new hire.
PAGA MONSTER DECLAWED
Major Relief for Responsible Employers
For more than a decade, use of California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) against conscientious employers – holding many up for civil suit ransom as the better choice to business closure – has grown to pandemic proportions with little benefit to the workers the law was designed to protect.
CALIFORNIA MINIMUM WAGE MID-YEAR RATE INCREASES
Effective January 1, 2024, California minimum wage increased to $16 per hour for all employers, regardless of size.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 43
WORK TIME OFF FOR VIOLENT CRIME VICTIMS
Employers must provide unpaid leave of any length to victims of crimes or public offenses (domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or crimes causing physical or mental injury), as well as to those threatened with physical injury (Crime Leave).
KEEPING PEACE
Workplace Violence Prevention Implementation Deadline is July 1, 2024
As previously reported, effective July 1, 2024, California employers of any size must develop an effective workplace violence prevention plan (the Plan) for each work area and operation; provide violence prevention training; maintain violence incident logs; and keep records of incident investigations and hazard identification, evaluation and correction.
FROM THE GROUND UP
I knew I was in trouble when Florence Morris, Mother Florence, grabbed me by the collar. And that was only my first day in Liberia, May, 2006, fighting an intestinal insurgency while stifling inside the tiny, tightly packed house, her Global Cares Mission Academy for 150-plus local kids and orphans.
KNOW, THEN GO
California employers must abide by a spate of rules and tests governing independent contractor classification. California’s strict “ABC” test considers all workers employees unless a company can establish that the worker (a) is free from its control and direction; (b) performs work outside the usual course of the company’s business; and (c) operates as an independent business of the same nature as the work performed.
HANDBOOK HELPER EPISODE 42
WORK TIME OFF FOR VOTING
An employee whose scheduled shift does not permit time outside of work to vote in a public election may take up to two paid hours off to do so. The employee must give two days’ advance notice and receive written supervisor approval.
CAUTIONARY TALE EPISODE 82
POULTRY PROCESSORS NAILED FOR CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS
$4.8 Million in Back Pay and Penalties
The Los Angeles federal court has approved a settlement requiring several Southern California poultry processors to pay $221,919 in penalties and $4.8 million in back pay to 486 poultry workers. $1 million of the latter is profits earned off illegal child labor, as is $171,919 of the penalties.