Most employers are well aware that if they terminate an employee for any reason of if it’s a lay-off, they must pay that employee’s wages (which includes vacation and sick time if applicable) in full immediately upon discharge. But, what if an employee works for a certain company on per…
Recently, the Second District Court has ruled in Johnson v. United Cerebral Palsy, 173 Cal.App.4th 740 (2009) on an important issue of admissibility of evidence of discrimination against a number of employees in a discrimination and wrongful termination case brought by a former employee. In that case, a pregnant employee…
Workplace harassment is a source of tremendous stress for many employees in California. Some of them confront their harassers in one way or the other, while others take a passive approach, feeling helpless or not believing that anyone can help them, including their human resources management. Unless the harassment is…
You are a consultant who travels from one work site to another serving the needs of your employer’s customers, or you are a support service provider for one of your company’s products and your travel all day from one office to another to repair or provide other on-site services. Are…
Retaliation against employees for exercising their rights or complaining about unlawful conduct of their employer is common. However, proving retaliation in California presents unique legal and factual challenges, as employers almost never simply admit that they retaliated against an employee. One California court discusses and provides excellent guidance on proving…
Terminating an employee can be a difficult and even devastating experience to the terminated worker, but it’s also not an easy decision for the manager / employer charged with the duty of retaining and discharging employees. It’s not uncommon for an employee termination to seem unfounded or irrational. For example,…
Recently, one of my clients referred to me his former colleague. After having a long conversation with him, it became clear to me that he was a victim of blatant disability discrimination and retaliation for filing a workers compensation claim and for complaining about harassment because of his medical condition…
For a while I could not understand why so many employers violate basic overtime laws. After all, these laws are not rocket science, and plenty of resources are available for employer to understand and make sure that they comply with the rules of the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement when…
Employers who terminate employees routinely fight the award of unemployment benefits if they feel that the employee was terminated for cause or for misconduct and should not receive unemployment compensation, which results in increasing the premium that the employer has to pay toward that insurance reserve with the State. Fighting…
The leading opinion on the issue of employers’ obligation to remedy workplace sexual harassment of a victim by his co-workers, is the ninth circuit case Ellison v. Brady (1991). In that case, the court carefully analyzed the approach that a number of other courts take toward determining whether the employer…