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California

Confidentiality depends on good e-mail policy

10/20/2009

Employers that don’t enforce reasonable e-mail and computer-access policies—consider yourselves warned. Without such policies and practices, you won’t be able to use the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to punish employees who send information through your system to other persons or computers.

Carefully review all post-complaint actions

10/20/2009

Employees who complain about discrimination can win retaliation cases even if it turns out their underlying complaint didn’t amount to discrimination. That’s why it’s so important to review all post-complaint discipline—to make sure it’s fair, justified and not potential retaliation.

Consider specific circumstances when weighing whether to pay for before- or after-work time

10/20/2009

These days, class-action claims for unpaid work time are becoming common—and can get very expensive. That’s one reason to make absolutely sure you properly pay employees for the work they do. Take a careful look at your hourly employees’ workdays—when they start and when they’re done for the day.

Court narrows liability for employee assaults

10/20/2009

The Court of Appeal of California has limited the situations in which an employer will be liable for assaults committed by its employees.

Whistle-blowers protected for flagging shareholder fraud

10/20/2009

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act makes it illegal to retaliate against an employee who blows the whistle on potential shareholder fraud.

Workers’ comp law bars emotional distress claim

10/20/2009

Employees who claim that supervisors harassed them to the point that they became emotionally distraught cannot sue for intentional infliction of emotional distress if the alleged harassment is job related. Instead, they must file a workers’ compensation claim.

New health coverage rules for dependent kids start Nov. 8

10/02/2009

A new federal law takes effect Nov. 8 that extends eligibility for group health insurance coverage to some dependent children age 18 or older who are higher-education students.

Warn employees: We’re monitoring your e-mail

09/21/2009

California employees have a constitutional right to privacy. That doesn’t mean, however, that employers can’t monitor e-mail sent to and from company computers and servers. The key: a policy that makes it clear that transmittals are not private.

Adopt civility policy, punish disruptive behavior

09/21/2009

The workplace is meant for working, and employers have the right to expect their employees to behave themselves. You can and should demand that all your employees treat each other, customers, supervisors and everyone else with dignity. If you don’t already have a civility rule, consider adopting one.

Opinion letter: OK to cut hours, pay of exempt employees

09/21/2009

A California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement opinion letter has given the green light to an increasingly common employment practice in today’s fragile economy: Cutting exempt employees’ normal workweeks and then paying them proportionately less.