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California

State minimum wage goes up

01/01/2008

California workers who earn the minimum wage will see their pay increase to $8 per hour starting Jan. 1, 2008. California and Massachusetts have the nation’s highest state minimum wages …

Los Angeles grocery ordinance conflicts with state regulations

01/01/2008

In a tentative decision, a California state court ruled that a Los Angeles grocery ordinance is void. A complaint by the California Grocers Association challenged the Grocery Worker Retention Ordinance, which set limits on the termination of employees, including requiring grocers to retain employees for 90 days after a change in ownership.

Staples settles overtime suit for $38 million

01/01/2008

Staples Inc., the office supply retailer, announced that it will pay $38 million to settle overtime claims brought by California employees. The settlement ended a suit between 1,700 operations and sales managers in California who claimed they were misclassified as exempt executive employees under state law …

$1.27 million to BART worker for harassment, retaliation

01/01/2008

A California Superior Court jury has awarded a San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employee $1.27 million for racial harassment and retaliation …

Clocking in and out: Can we round up or down?

01/01/2008

Q. My company tracks the hours of nonexempt employees through the use of a time clock. In determining the wages to be paid an employee, can we round up or down to the nearest five-minute increment? …

How do California and federal laws treat surrogate motherhood?

01/01/2008

Q. One of our employees announced that she has agreed to become a surrogate mother. What, if any, kind of leave are we required to provide to her? …

Working around employees’ jury duty obligations

01/01/2008

Q. What are California employers’ obligations with regard to workers who are called to serve on a jury? We often find our schedules disrupted, especially when the employee on jury duty gets stuck on a long trial …

Employers not liable for employee crime outside work

12/01/2007

California employers can rest easy—they aren’t liable for criminal acts their employees may undertake outside the workplace or their job responsibilities. That’s true even if the employee uses work-related materials to commit the crime, and the employer missed important clues in a background check …

‘Blacklisting’ for prior EEOC complaints may be retaliation

12/01/2007

Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act outlaws retaliation against applicants or employees because they have filed EEOC complaints or participated in EEOC proceedings. But that prohibition applies equally to EEOC complaints that job applicants may have filed against other employers. In other words, “blacklisting” an applicant because you know she filed an EEOC complaint against another employer is illegal retaliation …

Handling HR issues in wake of the Southern California wildfires

12/01/2007

Now that the smoke has begun to clear after record wildfires swept through Southern California, employers face some smoldering pay and leave questions. What if the fires forced you to close your workplace? Do you have to pay employees who were ready and able to work? When must your organization pay employees who were forced to leave their homes? …