California’s new labor code provision severely restricts an employer’s ability to conduct credit checks on employees. Labor Code 1024.5, which took effect on January 1, 2012, only allows employers to conduct credit checks for employees who meet one of the following categories:

    • A managerial position.

    • A position in the state Department of Justice.

    • That

Mat Honan at Gizmodo wrote recently about a new company that helps employers search applicant’s “internet background” to assist in the hiring process. As Mat rightly points out, much of the concern over this “new technology” is overblown, and as he puts it, "[e]mployers would have to be stupid not to Google job candidates." 

A reader of the California Employment Law Report asks if it is possible to have employees enter into an agreement that would allow the employer to count a portion of the employees’ tips towards the minimum wage requirement. “Tip credit” is recognized by many states and it allows employers to count a portion of the