Employee Rights
Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law on September 5, 2020
What is the ABC Test in California? The California state legislature recently passed AB 5, which defines who is an independent contractor and who is an employee under California law. AB 5 codified the “ABC test” for employment status. Under that test, a worker is an employee of a company unless the company can prove
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Non-Compete/Trade Secrets on August 4, 2020
The Silicon Valley No-Poach Settlement *For more information on this case and other California non-compete agreements, contact a San Francisco employment lawyer today. The recently announced $324 million proposed settlement in a civil antitrust case brought by workers against Silicon Valley tech giants Google, Apple, Adobe, and Intel exposed the anticompetitive underbelly of a culture that prides
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, Mediation on March 17, 2020
Coronavirus Mass Layoffs in California and Severance Packages Here in the San Francisco Bay Area six counties (Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, and Contra Costa) have just issued a shelter-in-place order, prohibiting all non-essential travel outside of the home. What will this mean for the economy, and Bay Area employment? Many economists
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law on August 30, 2019
What Are My Employer’s Obligations When I am Pumping at Work? August is National Breastfeeding Month, with a theme of “Support Changes Everything.” The United States Breastfeeding Committee developed this campaign in conjunction with breastfeeding coalitions, member/partner organizations, and individual supporters to generate advocacy for necessary policy and practice changes and “build a landscape of
... read more.Posted in Current Class Actions, Employee Rights, Employment Law, Equal Pay, Wage and Hour, Whistleblowers on July 11, 2019
Visiting Angels Lawsuit Rukin Hyland & Riggin is currently investigating potential employment violations by Home Care company Visiting Angels. Over the last few years, multiple home care, hospice care, and senior care corporations have come under the spotlight for abusing home how employees are classified and paid. California labor and employment laws are put in place to protect
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Employment Law on December 21, 2018
The #MeToo movement has put workplace sexual harassment in the spotlight, with numerous high-profile sexual harassment and assault allegations against powerful leaders in multiple industries. #Metoo has helped shed light on, and create a public conversation surrounding workplace issues that often go unreported. As more and more people step forward to share their stories, and
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights on December 21, 2018
Confidentiality clauses of one sort or another have been ubiquitous in the workplace for years. They are found in employment contracts, severance agreements, proprietary information agreements, and stand-alone non-disclosure agreements. Some require the employee to keep the terms of any settlement confidential. Others are limited to the protection of trade secret information or purport to
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Employment Law on October 24, 2018
First, you should know that you’re not alone. Unfortunately, as the #metoo movement has demonstrated, sexual harassment in the workplace is all too common. In 2015, almost one-third of the charges received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—the federal agency that administers and enforces federal civil rights laws against discrimination—were harassment claims. And a
... read more.Posted in Civil Rights, Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights on December 1, 2017
The reports of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct set off a cascade of sexual harassment and assault allegations against well-known men in politics, the arts, academia, and Hollywood. Women posted their personal accounts of #metoo on social media. Spurred by solidarity and accountability, women who long remained silent about harassment and abuse they experienced stepped forward
... read more.Posted in Civil Rights, Employee Rights, Equal Pay, Fair Pay Act on August 2, 2017
Have you ever felt that you were not paid fair wages due to race, ethnicity, or salary history? On January 1, 2017, the state legislature added two provisions to the California Fair Pay Act to address these concerns regarding equal pay. California Fair Pay Act: Revised Previously, the Fair Pay Act stated that workers conducting
... read more.Posted in Civil Rights, Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Equal Pay on July 20, 2017
San Francisco’s Parity in Pay Ordinance Yesterday, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee signed the Parity in Pay Ordinance, which prohibits employers from inquiring about or relying upon a job applicant’s salary history. Specifically, the Ordinance prevents employers who are required to do business in the City, including City contractors and subcontractors, from considering a job
... read more.Posted in Civil Rights, Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, News on March 8, 2017
The first “National Women’s Day” was observed in the United States in 1909, to recognize the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York. A year later, Women’s Day was recognized internationally at a conference in Copenhagen, where over 100 women from 17 countries created a worldwide day of celebration to advocate for women’s rights. In
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law on January 7, 2017
In a case filed just last month in San Francisco Superior Court, a current employee of Google asserts claims against the company based on its allegedly overbroad confidentiality agreement that Google requires all employees to sign and its policies regarding the use and disclosure of confidential information. (John Doe v. Google, Inc.; San Francisco Superior
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Whistleblowers on September 12, 2016
Severance agreements have once again drawn the ire of the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. This time, the SEC fined an Atlanta –based company, BlueLinx Holdings, Inc., $265,000 for maintaining unlawful severance agreement provisions. It seems that many companies are having a hard time complying with the SEC rule that makes it unlawful for an
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, Wage and Hour on August 3, 2016
A change to the federal overtime regulations that will come into play at the end of 2016 will likely have a significant impact on workers. The U.S. Department of Labor recently promulgated new overtime regulations which increase the national overtime salary threshold, thereby dramatically increasing the number of workers eligible for overtime. While hourly-paid workers
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, FCRA, News on July 13, 2016
For years, employers have used background checks in making hiring and promotion decisions. Since the advent of the internet, and particularly since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more and more employers are requiring background checks as a condition of applying for employment—and they are increasing their reliance on such checks. Moreover, the internet has provided the
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Equal Pay, Fair Pay Act, News, Wage and Hour on May 20, 2016
From Robin Wright making news for demanding the same pay as her ‘House of Cards’ co-star Kevin Spacey to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team filing an EEOC charge for pay discrimination, equal pay is having a moment–and California’s equal pay laws are no exception. On January 1, 2016, California’s Fair Pay Act took effect to strengthen the
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, News on February 16, 2016
There is good reason that Bay Area residents readily bandy about slang terms such as “tech bro” and “brogrammer”—terms that evoke a distinctive image—a tech scene made up of young male employees. Although the wage gap persists nationwide, recent reports have shown that both hiring and pay disparities are particularly pervasive in Silicon Valley, from
... read more.Posted in Case Updates, Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News on October 21, 2014
Dynamex v. Superior Court (California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate Division): What It’s About: Employer Dynamex appealed the trial court’s denial of its motion to decertify, arguing that the court improperly adopted the definition of “employee” from IWC Wage Orders to determine the status of class members, instead of using the common law definition of
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Employment Law, News on October 21, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it would review the Tenth Circuit’s decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch. 731 F.3d 1106 (10th Cir. 2013). In that case, the Tenth Circuit held that an employer is not liable under Title VII for failing to accommodate an applicant’s religious dress unless the applicant explicitly notifies
... read more.Posted in Case Updates, Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News on October 14, 2014
Ybarra v. Apartment Investment and Management Company (California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District): What It’s About: The Court of Appeal vacated and reconsidered its prior order reversing the trial court’s order denying the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. In light of Iskanian, the Court of Appeal held that the representative action waiver in the
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, News, Wage and Hour on October 8, 2014
The Problem With Misclassifying Independent Contractors As the economy improves, there has been an increased focus on the problem of independent contractor misclassification in the service sector (the part of the economy in which employees provide services and information, in contrast to producing manufactured goods, mining, or farming). Since August 2009, employment by staffing agencies has
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, News on September 11, 2014
California Governor Jerry Brown yesterday signed into law the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (AB 1522), which requires employers to provide paid sick leave to most California employees. According to the Legislature, sick leave benefits are good for both employers and employees, as sick leave lowers health care costs, increases productivity and prevents
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, News on September 10, 2014
Reimbursing Tech Expenses in California As discussed in my companion post, “You Want Me to Pay for What?” California law has long required employers to reimburse their employees for expenses reasonably incurred while working, so as to prevent employers from passing on their operating expenses to employees. A recent California Court of Appeal ruling helps
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights on September 10, 2014
The news is littered with stories of executives who use company funds to pay for lavish dinners, family vacations, and entertainment. But employees who are uncertain of their rights or don’t want to rock the boat may hesitate to request reimbursement for the small, everyday expenses they incur while working. California employees should know that the
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employment Law, News, Wage and Hour on September 4, 2014
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit gave plaintiffs an important victory in off-the-clock overtime cases when it affirmed the district court’s grant of class certification to a class of auto, property, liability, casualty, and special investigations claims adjusters in Jimenez v. Allstate . The Court first rejected Allstate’s argument that the common questions identified by the district
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News on August 29, 2014
CA Supreme Court opinion on franchise law Yesterday, the California Supreme Court addressed the circumstances under which a franchisor may be deemed to be the employer of a franchisee’s employees for purposes of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The case, Patterson v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, (Cal., Aug. 28, 2014, S204543) 2014 WL 4236175,
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News, Wage and Hour on July 25, 2014
In Rhea v. General Atomics, 14 C.D.O.S. 8201, the California Court of Appeal on Tuesday reaffirmed an earlier decision holding that an employer can require (or allow) an exempt employee to use vacation/paid time off (PTO) for partial day absences without compromising the employee’s exempt status. The Rhea Court further held that an employer can
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News on July 24, 2014
Many people often ask me, “Is it harassment if my coworker makes racist remarks?” The answer: maybe. Not every mean or rude comment qualifies as harassment. On the other hand, many employees suffer long periods of unlawful harassment or sexual harassment from their fellow employees but are unaware of what they can do about it.
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News, Wage and Hour on July 24, 2014
Who is entitled to overtime pay in California? Both federal and California law requires that employees be paid the minimum wage for all hours worked and that nonexempt employees be paid the proper overtime pay rate for overtime hours worked. Stating the rule is the easy part. How is it applied in practice? First, one
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News on July 23, 2014
Should an employer have the right to disqualify applicants based on criminal convictions? If so, should the law impose any limitations on this right? There exist strong arguments on either side of the debate. From the employer’s perspective, uniform application of a policy excluding candidates who have a criminal conviction – i.e., application of the
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, News, Wage and Hour on July 11, 2014
The default rule is that California employers must pay all their employees overtime. Employees who work overtime are entitled to 1.5 times their normal hourly pay, or “time and a half” for each hour worked over 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week. Lab. Code 510, subd. (a). However, there are several categories
... read more.Posted in Case Updates, Employee Rights, Employment Law, News on July 8, 2014
Ayala v. Antelope Valley Newspapers (California Supreme Court) What It’s About: Newspaper home delivery carriers claiming they had been misclassified as independent contractors, brought a class action for overtime wages, unreimbursed business expenses, and other employment benefits. Affirming a Court of Appeal decision, the California Supreme Court found that the trial court had erred in
... read more.Posted in Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, Employment Law, News on July 3, 2014
Two days ago, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of a former United Parcel Service employee’s claim that the company violated the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) when it refused to provide accommodations for her lifting restrictions during her pregnancy, despite the fact that it provides accommodations to non-pregnant employees with
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Employer Rights, Employment Law, News on July 2, 2014
According to the United Nations, out of 185 countries and territories with available information, the United States is one of the only three countries in the world, along with Papa New Guinea and Oman, lacking paid maternity leave. Most developed countries provide both paid maternity and paternity leave, and paid family and sick leave. Countries that
... read more.Posted in Appeals, Civil rights in the workplace, Employee Rights, News on June 28, 2014
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court decided Salas v. Sierra Chemical Co., affirming that the protections of California employment law are available to undocumented immigrants. In 2002, the California Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1818 in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB limiting the ability of undocumented employees fired
... read more.Posted in Employee Rights, Medical and Sick Leave, News on June 25, 2014
When employees are diagnosed with serious illnesses or injuries, they often need to take time off to seek treatment and recover. If the employee’s condition qualifies as a disability under the American Disabilities Act (ADA) or the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), then an employer may be required to provide the employee with
... read more.