Posts Tagged ‘workplace policies’
JOB INTERVIEW ERRORS TO AVOID
CareerBuilder Publishes Annual Survey and List of Most Bizarre Hiring Interviews According to a nationwide CareerBuilder Survey released February 22, 2018, “around half of employers (49 percent) know within the first five minutes of an interview if a candidate is a good or bad fit for a position, and only 8 percent make up their […]
REQUIRED MEAL PERIODS AND REST BREAKS REVISITED
Off-Duty Time During a California Work Day California employers must provide every not-exempt-from-overtime employee unpaid meal and paid rest breaks based on the number of hours that employee works in a given day. However, the rules vary for such workers as specified in the 17 Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Orders covering in different industries […]
WHY JOB DESCRIPTIONS MATTER
Employers can easily overlook the importance of job descriptions, starting as part of the hiring process. No law requires them and no explicit guidelines or instructions exist for writing them. However, properly written and updated job descriptions can be an important tool to help management and employees fully understand the nature of each company position […]
THE NEED FOR WRITTEN EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS
Well-Drafted Contracts Eliminate Uncertainty and Ambiguity Most workers are employed “at-will,” meaning either the employer or employee may end the work relationship at any time for any lawful reason without cause or advance notice. California law generally presumes an employee is employed at-will unless the employee can prove otherwise, such as a manager’s contrary verbal […]
DO THE MATH
California Supreme Court Sets Out New Formula for Overtime When “Flat Sum” Bonuses Paid Often California employers reward employees with bonuses without realizing the proper way to calculate overtime when doing so. This can put an employer at substantial risk if miscalculated over significant time for a large number of workers. Depending on the number […]
CAUTIONARY TALES EPISODE NINE
Weight Loss and Fitness Chain $8.3 Million Lighter After Citations for Wage and Hour Violations The Labor Commissioner’s latest press release announced citations of $8.3 million against Camp Bootcamp, Inc., dba Camp Transformation Center, which operates 15 fitness and weight loss centers from its Chino headquarters. The citations include a long list of Labor Code […]
RELIGIOUS OBJECTION TO MANDATORY FINGERPRINTING
Employer Must Properly Address Faith-Based Protest Employers must correctly field and handle an employee’s religiously-based objection to a workplace requirement, even when the employer’s requirement is mandated by law. For example, in Kaite v. Altoona Student Transportation, Inc., plaintiff worked as a Pennsylvania school bus driver for employer Altoona Student Transportation (AST). AST began implementing […]
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR OR EMPLOYEE?
It’s Not Really A Matter of Choice State and federal laws provide detailed standards a business must closely examine for who it can rightfully classify as an independent contractor and who needs to be an employee. Yet, it is not uncommon for enterprises and those they hire to just skip all that and – with […]
IGNORE AT YOUR OWN PERIL
Overlooked Pay Stub Requirements Can Lead to Trouble California law requires employers to provide written itemized wage statements containing precise, detailed pay-related information every pay period. Penalties for failure to comply with these pay stub requirements entitles each worker to recover at least $50 for the first violation and a minimum $100 for each subsequent […]
BOWLES LAW IN THE NEWS
Partner Cindy Bamforth Featured on KPCC’s “The Frame” Cindy was recently honored by host John Horn to speak on KPCC NPR’s “The Frame” on identifying and preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. This invitation came on the heels of her participation in the Women in Film’s panel discussing sexual harassment in Hollywood. Produced by Southern […]