December 2008

Parties have an absolute right – even a constitutional right – to communicate freely with putative class member employees prior to a class action being certified. Two of the leading cases in California on this topic are Parris v. Superior Court (2003) 109 Cal.App.4th 285 and Atari, Inc. v. Superior Court (1985) 166 Cal.App.3d 867.…

Laura Young was terminated after closing down a 24-hour service station for several hours, in violation of company policy, sued her employer and her supervisor, Angela Lopez (the station manager), alleging claims of harassment on the basis of mental disability, retaliation, and wrongful termination, among others.

The employer and supervisor won summary judgment, ending the…

While severance is not required under the law, many employers who are terminating or laying employees off voluntarily offer severance to employees. Usually, the severance is tied to a release of claims that the employee may have against the employer.

I am often asked about the amounts appropriate amounts of severance. The Connecticut Employment Law…

The Ohio Employer’s Law Blog notes that businesses are using very clever advertisements to fight the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act: 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4oj_2E1jE%26color1%3D0xb1b1b1%26color2%3D0xcfcfcf%26hl%3Den%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded%26fs%3D1

The ad was created by UnionFacts.com, a non-profit union watchdog group. The Ohio Employer’s Law Blog (written by Jon Hyman) has a series of posts I highly recommend that explains…

Christine Brewer, a longtime waitress employed at the Cottonwood Golf Club restaurant, quit her job in March 2005. Shortly thereafter, Brewer filed this action against her employer, Premier Golf Properties, LP, dba Cottonwood Golf Club alleging a causes of action for age discrimination, for meal and rest break violations (among other Labor Code violations), sought…