The new law affecting every employer in California is
the Wage Theft Protection Act of 2011. It takes effect on January 1, 2012 and adds additional notice and record keeping requirements that employers must comply with. The new law added Labor Code section 2810.5, which requires private employers to provide all new employees with
How To Prepare For a Berman Hearing
My las
t post provided an overview of the Berman hearing process when an employee begins a claim for unpaid wages with the Labor Commissioner. If the parties do not settle the claim at the settlement hearing, then the matter will be set for a Berman hearing pursuant to Labor Code 98(a). The Berman hearing
Overview Of Berman Hearings Before The Labor Commissioner
I’ve had a lot of interest from clients lately about the details of the administrative hearing process that employees can pursue before the California Labor Commissioner. With this interest, and just having represented a client at a Berman hearing this week, I wanted to explain the process in a series of posts.
An employee seeking
Employees Forfeit $34.3 Billion In Unused Vacation Time – Except In California
All too common is the assumption that because a company’s policies comply with Federal law, and perhaps other states’ laws, the policy should be fine under California law. This wrong assumption is clearly illustrated by a recent study by Expedia that estimates employees forfeit $34.3 billion in unused vacation time across the U.S. From what
Use of Ships To Skirt California Laws?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting about the plans of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who would 
like to anchor a ship 12 miles off the San Francisco coast in order to skirt U.S. Immigration laws. They project that the ships could hold 1,000 people at a cost for a room roughly equivalent (if not cheaper) to an
Webinar: New Laws Facing California Employers In 2012
Governor Brown signed a number of new employment laws that take effect in January 2012. During this webinar, we will cover the new obligations facing employers under these recently enacted employment laws as well as the proper steps employers should take to comply with them. The discussion will also cover the recent oral argument
Oral Arguments In Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court
What can I say, technology is awesome. The oral arguments in Brinker v. Superior Court that took place on November 8 are already on Youtube:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=IJBnSaUt0_M%3Frel%3D0
The Supreme Court has 90 days from oral argument to issue its decision.
New Law Imposes Large Penalties For Misclassification Of Independent Contractors
Over the weekend, Governor Brown signed S.B. 459 into law (among other employment bills) which makes employers liable for civil penalties of $5,000 to $15,000 for each violation of “willful misclassification” of employees as independent contractors. In addition, if it is found that the employer has a pattern and practice of misclassifying independent contractors, the
California Supreme Court Likely to Issue Ruling in Brinker Restaurant v. Superior Court Soon
Today, the California Supreme Court set oral argument in Brinker Restaurant v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum) to take place on November 8, 2011. The Court typically provides a ruling on cases within 90 days of oral argument, so I expect a ruling very early in 2012.
This case is the much anticipated ruling on whether employers
DOL Proposal May Require Employers To Provide More Wage Information To Employees
The
DOL is pushing for regulations to require employers to provide more information about how employee’s paychecks are calculated. This week, the Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said that the Department of Labor is backing a proposal that would require employers to provide more information to employees in order help stop wage and hour violations. Bloomberg