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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.

You don’t have to force workers to take meal breaks

09/21/2012
You no doubt know that employers have to provide for meal breaks under California law. But how far do you have to go to force employees to actually take the break? It turns out, not very far.

Injury while commuting to swapped shift? That doesn’t warrant workers’ comp

09/21/2012
Good news after a potentially expansive decision on liability for commute-time accidents: The Court of Appeal of California has overturned a workers’ compensation award to an employee who was in an accident on his way to work a swapped shift.

Making economic argument for staff cuts? Better make sure the math adds up

09/21/2012
Here’s something for small business owners to consider when purporting to terminate an employee for financial reasons. If the owner spends lavishly elsewhere, that may be evidence that money was just an excuse for a discriminatory termination.

Bullet-proof your promotions process

09/21/2012

Your best defense to a failure-to-promote claim is proof that you posted the job but the employee never applied. But how do you prove that? With a policy that requires posting all internal openings and also requires employees to express their interest by actually applying …

Señor Fish on the hook for underpaying hourly wages

09/21/2012
Los Angeles-area restaurant chain Señor Fish has agreed to a settle a Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit with the DOL. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division revealed the taquería business paid its employees “straight time” for all hours worked …

Hiring: Sometimes, personal questions are OK

09/21/2012

We all know that hiring managers are supposed to avoid personal or intrusive questions when interviewing job applicants. However, under some limited circumstances, getting answers to such questions may be relevant and necessary to the hiring process.

How must we accommodate breastfeeding?

08/21/2012

Q. One of our employees is on maternity leave. What are our obligations to accommodate her need to breastfeed when she returns to work?

How much flexibility do we have to set up alternative workweek schedules?

08/21/2012

Q. Our company employs nurses that care for patients in their homes. We would like to begin running 12-hour shifts and set up an alternative workweek schedule. What are the rules for instituting an alternative workweek for our employees?

Home nursing agency settles federal wage dispute

08/21/2012
Extended Health Care Private Duty Nursing, a Los Angeles-area home nursing agency, has agreed to pay $654,082 to settle a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint that followed a federal probe into its pay practices.

Grand jury: S.F. eateries took tips on health care surcharge

08/21/2012

A San Francisco civil grand jury has concluded that 38 restaurants built into their prices the cost of providing city-mandated employee health coverage—and then never offered the benefits to workers. The grand jurors’ suspicion: That restaurateurs pocketed a substantial portion of the money.