CAUTIONARY TALES EPISODE 1
A Minimum Wage and Overtime Recovery For Three Times Amount Claimed California was among the first states to require a minimum hourly wage, 16 cents in 1916. Federal law finally joined the trend in 1938. Now, cities and counties are enacting ordinances for ever-higher minimums. See, The History of Minimum Wage Laws, and Location, Location, Location…Location […]
MIND THE STINK
The Consequences of Failing to Reasonably Accommodate Worker Disability What happens when an employer ignores requests from a disabled employee for reasonable accommodation? In one recent case, a $3 million jury verdict was the result. Caltrans analyst, John Barrie, sued his employer for failure to accommodate his severe allergies to chemicals, such as cleaning agents and […]
MID-YEAR DEADLINE APPROACHES
California Employers Must Post Certain Updated Workplace Notices by July 1, 2017 All California employers must prominently post certain notices on wages, hours and working conditions. Employers must display these announcements where all employees have access. Failing to inform employees of their rights can subject an employer to penalties. Several California statewide and local notices must […]
IT’S ALL RELATIVE
Employees with Disabled Family Members Are Protected from “Associational” Discrimination For some 15 years, Luis Castro-Ramirez was the only family member qualified to administer daily dialysis treatments to his ailing son. When Dependable Highway Express, Inc. (DHE) hired Castro-Ramirez in December 2009, his supervisors accommodated his request for morning shifts so that he would arrive […]
BUSINESSES EMPLOYING 26-PLUS MUST IMPLEMENT LOS ANGELES’ PAID SICK LEAVE BY JULY 1, 2016
City’s Paid Sick Leave Notice Now Available The City of Los Angeles (City) recently increased minimum wage and doubled California’s paid sick leave requirements (Ordinance No. 184320) for “Employees,” i.e., workers performing labor within the City for a given employer for at least two hours in a particular week. (See below for City limits maps.) […]
JOB INTERVIEWER GUIDELINES
How to Find the Qualified Candidates Without Violating Their Rights Conducting job interviews is no easy task. In addition to weeding out clearly unsuitable candidates such as those described below, the interviewer should steer clear of discriminatory questions and topics throughout the process. According to a CareerBuilder nationwide survey (released January 14, 2016), of […]
PERSONNEL RECORDS BASICS
California Employers Must Take Care To Avoid Document Dumping Into a Single File Folder What constitutes personnel filing can vary wildly from company to company. An alarmingly high volume of California employers are content to maintain a single file folder for each worker, the repository for any and all documents management deems relevant to that […]
INTRODUCING DANISKA CORONADO
DANISKA CORONADO IS FIRM’S NEWEST LEGAL ASSISTANT We are extremely pleased to have Ms. Daniska Coronado Iberico as a legal assistant with the firm. Daniska is a licensed attorney in Peru, with business, commercial, and corporate law experience. She recently moved to the United States to become a lawyer here, now working full time at […]
OAKLAND PAID SICK LEAVE LAW PROVIDES GREATER BENEFITS THAN THE UPCOMING STATE REQUIREMENT
Measure Took Effect March 2, 2015 Effective March 2, 2015, Oakland’s paid sick leave ordinance (Measure FF), requires employers to provide paid sick leave benefits to part-time, full-time and temporary employees who perform at least two hours of work in a particular workweek within the city limits. This new law provides benefits greater than those […]
AMENDED MINIMUM WAGE NOTICE MUST BE POSTED BY JULY 1, 2014
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 […]