California statutes prohibiting retaliation bar termination of (or other adverse employment action against) employees asserting their legally protected rights, exercising political affiliations, opposing unlawful discrimination at workplace, or seeking statutory redress (such as investigation of discrimination, harassment, etc.) To show retaliation under California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), an…
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) provides a non-exhaustive list of possible accommodations that an employer may consider to accommodate a qualified disability or medical condition of an employee. These typical reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to: • Making facilities accessible to and usable by disabled…
Under California law (Fair Employment and Housing Act or “FEHA”) an employer has an affirmative duty to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process with an employee who is disabled or who the employer perceives to be disabled. The interactive process is a discussion between an employer and employee that…
The employer must engage in a “timely, good faith interactive process … in response to a request for reasonable accommodation by an employee or applicant with a known physical or mental disability or known medical condition. Although the law doesn’t specifically provide, the California court rulings make it clear that…
As I work and get in get in contact with more San Francisco area employers and employees, I can’t help but be amazed at the liability exposure that the companies-employers incur as a result of their human resources’ managers ignorance of the basic disability laws that lead do series of…
Many employers include a “standard” arbitration provision in their employment contracts or employee handbooks, which provides that any and all disputes arising out of the employer-employee relationship must be referred to mandatory arbitration instead of being litigated in jury trial. Generally, a mandatory arbitration provision is in the employer’s interest.…
Under FLSA an employee will be considered to be paid on a “salary basis” and thus exempt for the purposes of overtime compensation, if the employee regularly receives each pay period on a weekly, or less frequent basis, a predetermined amount constituting all of part of the employee’s compensation, which…
One of the most important provisions under the Bankruptcy Code that affects employment discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination claims asserted against the employer that files bankruptcy is the “automatic stay” under the Bankruptcy Code section 362. Immediately upon filing by the employer of a bankruptcy petition, the automatic stay takes…
An employer who loses or is about to lose an employment or wrongful termination case will usually argue at trial/arbitration/mediation that the plaintiff employee failed to mitigate his damages. In other words, the employer will try to convince the decision makes that the plaintiff who has been unemployed or underemployed…
Once the employer knows or should know about sexual or other harassment, it has a duty to take immediate and appropriate corrective actions to end it. The employer’s response to harassment complaints against a particular employee or a supervisor must be reasonable calculated to end the harassment. This of course…