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California

Employment Lawyer Network:
California

Joseph L. Beachboard (Editor)

California Employment Law

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

Click for Full Bio

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.

How to win discrimination lawsuits: Carefully document real performance problems

01/01/2013
Smart employers carefully track performance over the long haul—not just when a manager decides he’s had enough and wants to terminate an employee for poor performance. It’s important to lay the groundwork early on, especially if a new hire has obvious performance problems right after coming on board.

Investigations must be thorough, but not bulletproof to justify discipline

12/10/2012
Here’s some good news for those handling discipline and wondering whether your decision will stand up in court: You don’t always have to be exactly right, just fair and honest.

How much leave notice does CFRA require?

11/16/2012

Q. An employee just notified HR he would like to take immediate leave under the California Family Rights Act. Can we require more notice?

Should we be paying overtime to employee who receives after-hours phone calls?

11/16/2012

Q. One of our office managers regularly receives after-hours calls from our landlord about building management issues. Are we required to pay her overtime compensation for the resulting hours she works over eight in one day or over 40 in one week?

What does California’s new law mean for our dress and grooming policy?

11/16/2012

Q. We would like to enforce a strict dress and grooming code in our company. Are we required to exempt from our policy employees whose faiths call for them to dress or groom in a specific way?

Courts: Truckers’ breaks covered by federal–not California–law

11/16/2012
In a significant decision for transportation companies operating in California, a federal district court judge recently dismissed several class-action claims brought by truck drivers who alleged meal and rest break violations under California law.

DOL sues to gain access to Forever 21’s vendor records

11/16/2012
The U.S. Department of Labor’s new crackdown on alleged wage-and-hour abuses in the Southern California garment industry has resulted in its first legal action.

Of mice and Muslims: EEOC sues UPS for bias

11/16/2012
The EEOC is suing UPS for race and religious discrimination and retaliation, alleging a Muslim of Jordanian descent working at the company’s San Bruno hub was subjected to physical and verbal harassment, including being called “Dr. Bomb,” “al-Qaida” and “Taliban.”

$1 million settlement ends bias suit at Delano hospital

11/16/2012
Delano Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay almost $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the EEOC and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center on behalf of a group of Filipino-American workers.

Contractor arbitration pact doesn’t always preclude court

11/16/2012

Employers that engage independent contractors sometimes require them to sign an agreement stipulating that any disputes over the contract must be settled through arbitration, not in court. However, having such an agreement doesn’t mean a court can’t decide whether those workers are, in fact, independent contractors or employees.