Harassment and discrimination

Earlier this week I attended Restaurant Day at the State Capitol with the California Restaurant Association.  It is great to work with restaurant owners and operators in communicating the issues and realities of running a business in California.  If you have never participated in meeting with your local, state, or federal legislator, I highly

Clients come to my firm often frustrated by California employment laws and their complexity, the raising costs of doing business in California (such as the higher minimum wage), and the legal system in general.  I have to agree that California poses one of the most difficult business environments businesses have to operate within, but I

If an employee is injured and is unable to work overtime (i.e., over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week), can an employer terminate the employee?  Potentially.  Employers may terminate employees who are unable to work overtime if this is an essential duty of the position.  This Friday’s Five reviews when

California employment law is a mind field that carries huge exposure for employers not proactively monitoring legal developments and potential legal issues.  There are some statements employers in California should never make, and this Friday’s Five reviews misaligned statements that can create significant liability for an employer.

1. My company has employment practices liability insurance

Plaintiff Ketryn Cornell began working part-time for the Berkeley Tennis Club as a lifeguard and pool manager in 1997, while attending college at UC Berkeley. She was employed as a night manager and continued to work at the Club after graduating from college in 2001.  In 2011, she took on additional duties and began working

Happy New Year.  I started the Friday’s Five articles in the summer of 2014, and the interest in the articles has been more than I expected.  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

Matt Lauer’s abrupt departure from NBC illustrate important lessons employers should take away from this week’s events in how to investigate and respond to harassment claims.  It is important it note that NBC is not like most employers in that this one of the most newsworthy and public harassment allegation cases in the nation and

Another Friday – another Friday’s Five.  November 2017, a great time to have a refresher course on five obligations employers have under California law to prevent and correct any potential harassment and discrimination in the workplace:

1. Duty to prevent harassment

The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) requires employers to take “all reasonable steps

California’s state legislature is nearing the end of its term, and employers are beginning to glimpse some of the laws that could apply in 2018.  There are multiple proposed bills that prohibits employers’ ability to rely upon or seek information about applicant’s previous wages to set the employee’s pay.  This Friday’s Five reviews the current

In speaking to a few groups of California employers this week, a common question kept coming up about what are the essential Booksemployment policies California employers must have?  While there are more than five, this week’s Friday’s Five starts with what I consider to be critical policies that every California must have in place.

1.