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California

No private right to sue for tip violations

09/22/2010
The California Supreme Court has ruled that employees don’t have a private right to sue their employers for alleged tip violations.

Whistle-blowers’ choice: federal or state claim

09/22/2010

Employees who claim they were terminated or otherwise punished for whistle-blowing often have several potential claims. Fortunately for employers, employees can’t file both a federal administrative claim (and then not appeal the agency decision) and file a state court claim later.

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot! If you praise extra work, pay for it

09/02/2010

Nonexempt employees are entitled to be paid for all the hours they work. Before issuing a performance appraisal that hails hourly employees for coming in early and staying late, make sure they were appropriately compensated. Otherwise, your praise may come back to haunt you.

With EFCA on the ropes, unions shift their focus to the NLRB

08/23/2010
As we approach the Nov. 2 midterm congressional elections, chances for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act grow dimmer and dimmer. But that hasn’t diminished unions’ push for EFCA-like reforms through the National Labor Relations Board—especially now that a solid three-vote majority of former union lawyers is serving on the board. The battleground clearly has shifted to the NLRB.

California workers ratify union contract with DPA

08/23/2010
California-based members of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) have ratified a two-year labor agreement with the California Department of Personnel Administration (DPA).

NLRB schedules union vote for 45,000 Kaiser workers

08/23/2010

The National Labor Relations Board in August approved plans for a mail ballot election to begin Sept. 13 for tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente employees throughout California. The election will determine if the workers at the health care giant will be represented by one of three unions. Kaiser employees also have the option of voting for no union representation.

UC postdoctoral researchers reach tentative agreement

08/23/2010

On Aug. 1, a union representing postdoctoral researchers at the University of California reached a tentative collective-bargaining agreement. The five-year pact between the university system and Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (PRO/UAW), which represents 6,500 postdoctoral researchers in the UC system, calls for pay increases of at least 3% per year from 2010 to 2015 for researchers earning less than $47,000.

State Supreme Court rules on minority and female preference

08/23/2010
Some local California governments have to give preference to minority- or female-owned contractors. Now in an odd twist, the California Supreme Court has said that such preferences are legal only if the local government can show it does in fact discriminate. That could end such preferences.

It’s not whistle-blowing! Challenge minor complaints

08/23/2010
Some employees think that every complaint they make to their employers is a protected whistle-blowing complaint. That’s just not true. Case in point:

Asked to settle union election challenge, 9th Circuit punts it back to NLRB

08/23/2010

In a recent article, we explain how the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is struggling to clear a backlog of cases after a huge Supreme Court decision invalidating many prior decisions. Now the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has added to the NLRB’s burden by kicking a case back to the board rather than deciding it in court.