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California

Forced arbitration agreement doesn’t stop class-Action wage-and-Hour lawsuits

12/01/2007

A California appeals court ruled that employees can still participate in class-action wage-and-hour lawsuits even if they signed arbitration agreements waiving their rights to those kinds of suits as a condition of continued employment. The court said such agreements are unconscionable and therefore not enforceable …

Real estate job losses to further weaken state economy

12/01/2007

The quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast predicts that accelerating job losses in construction and real estate finance will weaken California’s economy further than expected. However, unless another factor emerges, California will narrowly avoid a recession and instead will record “very weak but positive payroll growth through late 2008” …

Time to come clean: car washes handed $1.6 million in citations

12/01/2007

The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) recently conducted two days of sweeps at approximately 100 car washes in six Southern California counties, uncovering an array of employment law violations …

Interstate Bakeries to close Southern California facilities

12/01/2007

On Oct. 3, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri approved motions to allow the managers of Interstate Bakeries Corp. to go ahead with plans to close most of its Southern California operations …

SoCal contractor pays $200,000 in back wages to employees

12/01/2007

The U.S. Labor Department announced that a Southern California company paid $200,013 in back wages for unpaid overtime to 231 current and former employees. Memo Scaffolding, which specializes in setting up scaffolding for residential and commercial construction projects, also paid $60,000 incivil penalties …

Military spouse on leave? Employee has leave rights, too

12/01/2007

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed California’s new law allowing military spouses to take leave. The law requires some employers to provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave to the spouse of a qualified member of the U.S. armed forces, National Guard or reserves. Here are employer guidelines on exactly how to administer this new entitlement …

Putting a cap on vacation time accrual

12/01/2007

Q. Our company’s vacation policy provides that once an employee earns 240 hours (or 30 days) of vacation, no additional vacation may be accrued until the balance falls below that level. Is this legal? …

Reconciling rest periods and restrooms

12/01/2007

Q. We operate a labor-intensive factory that requires workers to remain at their stations throughout most of the workday. Is it legal to require workers to use their 10-minute rest period to use the restroom? …

Worker notification requirements when layoffs are planned for 2008

12/01/2007

Q. We employ nearly 100 employees at a facility in San Jose. What type of notice must we provide if we are planning to lay off more than half of these employees during the first quarter of next year? …

New law puts curbs on Social Security numbers on paychecks

12/01/2007

Q. We’ve heard that a new law changes how we use Social Security numbers in the workplace. Is that true? …