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California

Employment Lawyer Network:
California

Joseph L. Beachboard (Editor)

California Employment Law

Joe.Beachboard@OgletreeDeakins.com
(213) 239-9800

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Joseph L. Beachboard is a nationally recognized expert on employment law issues who speaks regularly at SHRM and other HR events. He also is a regular contributor to several national and California publications. In 2000, Mr. Beachboard sold The Labor Letters, Inc., a publisher of monthly employment law journals that he founded to advise human resource professionals. He is a founding member and executive director of the Management Employment Law Roundtable, a national, invitation only, organization of management labor and employment lawyers.

Supreme Court rules FLSA class-action properly dismissed as moot

05/20/2013

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a class-action lawsuit filed by a worker under the FLSA was properly dismissed because the ­worker’s suit was moot when she failed to accept an offer of judgment from her employer.

Disability-bias suit seeks promotional video captions

05/20/2013
A hearing-impaired Los Angeles man is suing the Bed Bath & Beyond retail chain, complaining that it fails to provide captions or transcripts for the promotional videos that play in the aisles of its stores.

San Jose minimum wage increases to $10 per hour

05/20/2013
The San Jose Minimum Wage Ordinance, which took effect on March 11, raised the minimum wage for “covered employees” to $10 per hour. A “covered em­­ployee” is anyone who works two or more hours per week within the city limits.

The latest word on seats from the appeals court bench

05/20/2013
A recent court decision on the availability of seating at work suggests the best approach may be to just offer everyone a chair. It seems employees sue without actually requesting a place to sit down.

Manager ‘smirks’ about employee’s situation? That’s not enough to justify a lawsuit

05/20/2013
Here’s some good news: An employee’s interpretation of a manager’s facial expressions isn’t enough for a successful lawsuit. A smirk isn’t evidence.

OK to terminate disabled employee if effort to accommodate is unsuccessful

05/20/2013
Employers are supposed to reasonably accommodate an employee’s disability so he or she can perform the essential functions of the job. Some workers take that as a guarantee that—should they develop a disability—their employer must find a position the employee can do. That’s simply not the case.

Central Valley fast food firm forks over $100K for bias

05/20/2013
Merced-based Alia Corp., which owns 20 McDonald’s franchises in the Cen­­­­tral Valley, will pay $100,000 to settle a former supervisor’s disability discrimination suit. The man claimed Alia illegally demoted him because of his intellectual disability.

Leave arbitration agreement out of handbook

05/20/2013

Like most employers, your em­­ployee handbook probably in­­cludes a disclaimer informing employees that nothing in the document creates a contract. But what if your handbook also includes a clause that says employee disputes must go to arbitration instead of state or federal court, where a run­­away jury might bankrupt the company? Bad idea.

Retaliation alert: Don’t punish boss for refusing to alter disputed performance review

05/01/2013
Here’s an important reminder for senior executives: If an employee says she will sue for discrimination unless her evaluation is changed, don’t punish her supervisor if he refuses to go along. That could amount to retaliation for protected activity—meaning you could have two lawsuits on your hands.

OK to punish repeat offenders more harshly

04/30/2013
A cardinal HR rule: Everyone who breaks the same rule should receive the same punishment. That doesn’t mean a frequent rule-breaker can’t be punished more harshly.