Employers usually face defamation claims in connection with wrongful termination allegations.  Defamation claims can arise in twoNestor Galina forms: libel (written) and slander (spoken).  Defamation can result from a variety of different scenarios, such as: statements made to others during a workplace investigation, explaining to colleagues the reasons why an employee was terminated, the employee’s claim

This week, a federal court in northern California certified portions of a class action Picture - driverbrought by Uber drivers who worked in California since 2009 (click here for the decision [PDF]).  Over 160,000 drivers have worked for Uber in California during this time period, and while the case is making a lot of news,

Many employers have new hire packets and hiring procedures, but just as important, and often overlooked by employers, is to have a process for departing employees. It is important to ensure an employee departing the company provides all items back to the company and is provided any legally required documentation, and is a good opportunity

With summer upon us, the California legislature is busy working on bills that could impact employers.  Here are five employment bills being considered by the state legislature that California employers should keep an eye on:

1. SB 3 – Increase in minimum wage and indexing to inflation

Currently, California minimum wage is set to increase

Is your company in an industry that is likely to be targeted by the Department of Labor (DOL) for FLSA violations, or by the California Labor Commissioner for California Labor Code violations? A review of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour statistics for fiscal year 2014, in connection with California’s Division of Labor Standards

Today’s Friday’s Five article is a bit different in that it focuses on the attorney –Abraham Lincoln client relationship.  Here are five recommendations to get the most out of your relationship with your lawyer:

1. Ask a lot of questions.

No question should be off limits with your lawyer. Ask questions about litigation issues, billing issues,

Based on last week’s post about the lawsuit filed against LinkedIn alleging that it violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), I thought it would be good to point out a few issues the arise when employers conduct background checks.  This article is not comprehensive, and this area of the law is very

Recently, the issue raised in Sweet v. LinkedIn is whether the Reference Searches functionality offered by LinkedIn is governed by the LinkedIn candyregulations set forth in the FCRA.  The Reference Search feature allows users who pay a fee to search for references that have worked with any other LinkedIn member.  The results list common employers and

You’ve set up a successful company and begin hiring employees. To be a successful operator in California, a company’s management needs to be familiar with the critical legal concepts in order to successfully navigate California’s complex employment laws. You never wanted to go to law school, but time to hit the, ahem, books (or the

I just discovered How to Start a Startup, which is a series of videos published by Stanford University on YouTube with some outstanding speakers. The problem is that the class videos are so great, I have a hard time turning them off. Case in point, this week I watched Ben Horowitz’ lecture: How to