Happy Friday! This Friday’s Five covers five areas that employers can start with in conducting an employment practices 
audit. Coming up on the mid-point of the year, it is a good time to conduct an employment law practices audit to ensure that policies are compliant, managers are properly trained, and the company is maintaining the
House passes the “Working Family Flexibility Act” – what California employers need to understand
This Friday’s Five comes on Cinco de Mayo – how appropriate. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Working Family Flexibility Act, now it is being considered
by the Senate. President Trump has indicated that he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. Five issues California employers need to understand
Five common questions about California’s paid sick leave requirements
Almost two years after California’s requirement to provide employees with paid sick leave, there are still many outstanding questions about California’s Healthy Workplace Healthy Family Act of 2014. These issues still exist even after Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 3 on April 2016 amending the Act attempting to clarify a few provisions of
Friday’s Five: Meal and rest break update
Welcome to another Friday’s Five video. In this video I discuss five things every California employer needs to know about meal and rest breaks. The items consists of a some reminders, but also new court decisions issued in December 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. This is always a topic employers need to
Five steps to prepare for July 2017 local minimum wage increases in California
Many cities and counties across California are set to increase their minimum wages in July 2017, and employers need to start preparing now. For example, Los Angeles City and County are increasing the minimum wage for employers with 26 or more employees to $12 per hour on July 1, 2017 (currently at $10.50 per
Five reminders about exempt employees working in the restaurant industry
In a recent decision, Ramirez v. ISB Mehta Corp., a restaurant successfully defended a lawsuit filed by a former manager claiming that he was misclassified as an exempt employee. While the case is not officially published, it provides a few good lessons for restaurant operators’ classification of their employees. This Friday’s Five focuses on
California proposed immigration bill imposes steep fines for employers who cooperate with federal immigration requests
Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill – AB 450 – that would put employers between the federal government and the state of California in the immigration debate. Basically, the bill imposes penalties on employers who cooperate or do not notify the state of federal immigration actions taking place at their locations. As set
Five action items to conduct an appropriate harassment investigation
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about an employer’s obligations to conduct effective investigations into harassment claims. I was 
side tracked since that post, and promised to write about how employers should conduct the investigations. This Friday’s Five lists five action items employers should utilize when conducting harassment investigations:
1. Selecting the investigator
Commissioned sales employees must be compensated separately for rest breaks – Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture
This week, in Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture LLC, a California appellate court issued a decision explaining employer’s obigations to separately compensate employees paid on a commission basis for rest breaks.
Plaintiffs worked as sales associates for Stoneledge Furniture, LLC, a retail furniture company doing business in California as Ashley Furniture HomeStores. Stoneledge paid the
Allegations made from Uber employee reminds CA employers about their obligations to conduct effective investigations into harassment claims
A former employee at Uber has made news this week in claiming that she was subjected to sexual 
harassment while working at Uber, and her complaints were not satisfactorily resolved. I don’t want to get into the judgment of who was possibly right or wrong in this case, but use it as a good