Article by: Michael Thompson
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, a Los Angeles jury hit billionaire Alki David and two of his media companies, FilmOn and Alki David Productions, with an $8.25 million verdict on claims of battery, sexual battery, and sexual harassment brought by Mahim Khan, a former employee. After turkey and stuffing, the jury
I can hear the questions already, just five new laws taking effect on January 1, 2016? No, there are many more, as I have previously written about, but here are five additional new laws employers need to understand going into 2016.
1. Family members of whistleblower are granted protections and some employers are excluded
1. Automatic liability for a company when harassing or discriminatory conduct is taken by supervisors.
A company is automatically liable for any harassment or discriminatory actions taken by its supervisors. Under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), a supervisor is defined as anyone who has the authority to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, promote
California law has held that “employer” does not include an entity’s agents, and therefore there is no personal liability for Labor Code violations. Reynolds v. Bement (2005) 36 Cal.4th 1075, 1087-88; Jones v. Gregory (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 798, 805. The California Supreme Court explained in Reynolds that under common law, corporate agents are not personally