I had the opportunity to attend an event with Chris Sacca last night. He is a venture capitalist who 
has been living part-time in Los Angeles recently. He spoke about how he grew up in the investment scene in Silicon Valley. He got his feet wet in investing when he started day trading law school
Silicon Valley Companies Sued Over Agreements Not To Hire Competitor’s Employees
Were Silicon Valley companies artificially keeping wages lower by having an agreement not to 
poach employees from competitors? This issue came to a head in 2010 when the Department of Justice settled an antitrust case with Adobe, Pixar, Google, Apple, Inuit, and Intel. The DOJ alleged that the companies had agreement not to poach each
Inside Litigation Over Social Media Accounts – Why Employers Should Have Social Media Policies – Part I
As previously written about on this blog, the case PhoneDog v. Kravtiz is one of the first cases in the country to deal with substantive ownership issues arising out of social media accounts used in the workplace. As companies are moving more and more away from traditional marketing and advertising towards the use of
When Does An Employer Have To Pay Wages?
I remember working odd summer jobs during college to pay the rent so that I did not have to move home. I was just thinking about one employer I worked for that always seemed to have payroll issues. Now, I do not think the mistakes were intentional, but they did cause me to have a
Does the Company or the Employee Own a Twitter Account?
Imagine you are an employer and your employee in charge of your social media accounts leaves, keeps the accounts, and begins using the accounts while working for a competitor. Conversely, imagine you are an employee, leave employment to work for a competitor and your former employer sues you for $350,000 because you refuse to stop
Why Start-up Managers Cannot Afford To Be Like Steve Jobs
I don’t have any personal knowledge of how Steve Jobs was as a manager, but every account I read of him was that he was demanding and in your face. While this can be an effective management style of some, it does come with some associated costs.
Increased litigation costs
Unless your start-up has a
What is a Split Shift?
A split shift is defined in the California IWC Wage Orders as:
…a work schedule, which is interrupted by non-paid non-working periods established by the employer, other than bona fide rest or meal periods.
See Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 11040, subd. 2(Q). If the employee works two shifts separated by more than a
Three Legal Steps Employers Can Take To Ensure Employees Comply With Company Policy
The scenario is common: employers have policies in place to protect the employees and the company, but getting employees to comply with the policies is difficult. For example, a company has a policy that employees have to be on-the-clock for during all of the time they are working, but there is one or two employees
Can Employers Ask For Applicants’ W-2 or Tax Returns?
First it was Facebook passwords, now it is financials. It is becoming more regular that employers ask job applicants for a W-2 or tax returns in order to verify past salary or employment information. Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a story on this interesting issue. Given the tough job market
Meal and Rest Break Compliance After Brinker v. Superior Court
Have you attended webinars and read new legal updates on the new Brinker decision and still uncertain on how this applies to your company? Realizing that employers need to take a more active step in ensuring they are in compliance with the new decision, I’ve developed a package that actually assists employers in drafting and