In litigation, the following five issues make defending an employment lawsuit much more difficult. 
1. No documentation.
No matter what type of employment litigation is at issue – wage and hour claims, leave issues, or harassment claims – the amount of documentation an employer has dramatically increases the odds of prevailing in litigation. I would
Happy New Year. I started the Friday’s Five articles at the beginning of last summer, and 
the interest in the articles has been astounding, so I appreciate everyone who has read them and provided comments and feedback. If you have any topics you would like me to address, please let me know. With that
Let me start with the lawyer’s disclaimer up-front: this Friday’s Five list has no scientific or statistical backing whatsoever, I generated it based on the cases I’ve been litigating in 2014. My experience may be (and probably is) skewed a bit, but nevertheless California employers should pay attention to the following areas of potential litigation.
The laws passed in 2014 added some new posting requirements and resulted in the need to 
revise some of the notices California employers are required to provide to employees. This Friday’s Five Best Practices article sets out five items California employers should review before the start of 2015:
1. Review newly published frequently asked questions
An appellate court upheld a trial court’s denial of class certification in a case brought against 
Walgreens. The appellate court’s decision provides a few good lessons for employers defending class action allegations.
1. Meal break cases are harder to certify as class actions after the Brinker decision.
The California Supreme Court held in Brinker Restaurant
Expense reimbursement may seem like a small issue in comparison with the other areas of 
liability facing California employers, but the exposure for not appropriately reimbursing employees can be substantial. In Gattuso v. Harte-Hanks Shoppers, Inc., the California Supreme Court clarified the parameters of mileage reimbursement under California law, as well as the three
1. Meal and rest breaks.
If you did not know of this exposure already existed in California, can I recommend some reading here, here and here? 
2. Exempt vs. non-exempt classification of employees.
The default under California law is that every employee is entitled to overtime pay at a rate of time and
Here is a list of five rights provided to employees under the California Labor 
Code that the employee may not waive by agreement with an employer.
1. Minimum wage
Labor Code Section 1194 provides a private right of action to enforce violations of minimum wage and overtime laws. That statute clearly voids any agreement between
This Friday’s Five is coming out a little late in the day, but as they say, better late…. I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about final wage payment requirements. So here are five rules every employer should know about providing final wages to employees:
Here is a short video regarding some items California employers should consider about the minimum wage increase taking effect July 1, 2014.
//www.youtube.com/embed/fvwcOiltDHw
For more information about the minimum wage increase:
Five issues California employers should review before the minimum wage increases July 1, 2014