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California

Disabled employee can’t work at all? You can terminate without violating FEHA

06/16/2011
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act doesn’t require employers to provide unlimited time off for employees with disabilities. The fact is, employees with disabilities are still expected to come to work (at least some of the time) and perform the essential functions of their jobs with or without accommodations while they are there.

Owner, foreman get jail time for worker’s fatal plummet

06/16/2011
A California court has sentenced a company owner and a foreman to a year in jail for allowing unsafe working conditions that led to a roofer’s accidental death.

Employee must prove class action is warranted

06/16/2011
Lately, California employers have faced a flood of class-action lawsuits claiming they misclassified employees. Now that tide might turn, thanks to a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Tell staff: Break data rules, risk prosecution

06/16/2011

When explaining your computer-use policy, make sure employees understand they may be criminally prosecuted if they violate the rules and gain access to information they have no business reading. That should make them think twice about obtaining confidential in­­for­ma­tion and passing it on to the competition.

What are California’s rules on lactation breaks?

05/20/2011
Q. Are we required to give our employees additional rest breaks in order to express breast milk?

Are we required to grant a former employee access to his personnel records?

05/20/2011
Q. One of our former employees has requested to see his personnel file. Are we required to allow him ­access to it?

Given California’s strict break rules, can employees work through lunch?

05/20/2011
Q. We give our employees the opportunity to take up to a one-hour lunch break every day. However, several of our employees have requested to work through their lunch break in order to leave work earlier. Is this legal?

John Muir Health settles EEOC ‘latex bias’ charges

05/20/2011
John Muir Health agreed to settle bias charges brought by the EEOC, claim­ing the East Bay hospital system dis­­criminated against job applicants ­perceived to have latex allergies.

Supreme Court approves class-action waivers in arbitration

05/20/2011
On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act protects a company’s right to include a class-action waiver in its arbitration agreement even though a state law bars such provisions as unconscionable. The case involved a retail consumer transaction, but it could have important implications for employers that use arbitration agreements.

Hispanic workers at higher risk for on-the-job fatalities

05/20/2011
A report recently issued by Worksafe, a California advocacy group, found that California Hispanic workers are more than 50% more likely to die at work than non-Hispanic workers.