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California

Employment Lawyer Network:
California

Joseph L. Beachboard (Editor)

California Employment Law

Joe.Beachboard@OgletreeDeakins.com
(213) 239-9800

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Joseph L. Beachboard is a nationally recognized expert on employment law issues who speaks regularly at SHRM and other HR events. He also is a regular contributor to several national and California publications. In 2000, Mr. Beachboard sold The Labor Letters, Inc., a publisher of monthly employment law journals that he founded to advise human resource professionals. He is a founding member and executive director of the Management Employment Law Roundtable, a national, invitation only, organization of management labor and employment lawyers.

Retirement math must comply with PDA, Title VII—For now

10/01/2007

Can employees sue for a company practice that was perfectly lawful when it was implemented but has since become illegal? Yes, according to a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals case in which employees complained that a company policy didn’t give them full-service credit toward their retirement benefits during their pregnancy leave …

Callous treatment may cost you punitive damages

10/01/2007

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, employers that don’t reasonably accommodate disabilities may be liable for both actual and punitive damages. And those punitive damages can add up, frequently exceeding the amount of actual damages. Train all managers and supervisors on the consequences of being perceived as intentionally ignoring the law …

Act fast to remedy slurs, threats, other outrageous behavior

10/01/2007

It may be the phone call you most dread getting—an employee says the workplace is riddled with hostile behavior, from offensive graffiti in the restroom to racial slurs and innuendo. What’s your first move? Ignoring complaints won’t make them go away. Instead, you need an action plan to deal immediately with the harassment …

Harassment victim doesn’t have to complain right away

10/01/2007

Under Title VII’s sexual harassment provisions, employers have few defenses if supervisors harass subordinates to the point that there’s a hostile work environment. But if the employer has an effective and well-designed complaint process that promises relief, it can reduce its liability—usually even if the harassed employee doesn’t take advantage of that process …

Know applicant’s race? Don’t try to deny the obvious

10/01/2007

You know you aren’t supposed to consider race in hiring decisions. And ideally your organization takes steps to ensure the hiring process is as color-blind as possible. But let’s face facts: Sometimes the person screening applications is going to know the job-seeker’s race (especially when a current employee seeks a promotion). Denying that fact won’t help you if an applicant who doesn’t get the job decides to sue—and it may actually hurt. The applicant can raise the denial as evidence of illegal motive or intent …

Class action may be price for policies that invite off-the-Clock work

10/01/2007

Does your organization have top-down policies that tacitly create incentives for hourly employees to work extra hours without pay? If so, you may be risking a class-action wage-and-hour lawsuit. That’s what happened to one large employer when a disgruntled hourly employee claimed the company practically forced him to work extra hours in order to keep his job …

When identifying sexual harassment, totality of circumstances tells the tale

10/01/2007

California employees have a right to a work environment free of sexual harassment, and employers are obligated to prevent harassment. But that doesn’t mean that every comment, gesture or look that may be perceived as sexual can be considered harassment …

University of California settles UC Berkeley coach’s sex-Bias case

10/01/2007

On July 19, the University of California agreed to pay a former UC Berkeley women’s swim coach $3.5 million to settle her gender-discrimination claim. Karen Moe Humphreys, an Olympic gold medalist who was a 26-year employee of the university’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, argued that she was laid off while less qualified males were hired and retained without regard for the university’s seniority system …

Report finds day laborers only a small part of work force

10/01/2007

A July 25 report issued by the Public Policy Institute of California has found that day laborers make up only a small percentage of the state work force. According to “Day Labor in the Golden State,” only about 40,000 people are working or looking for work as day laborers each day in California …

UC: State health care proposals won’t increase business costs

10/01/2007

The University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research issued a research report on July 11 to determine the impact on businesses’ operating costs of two state health care proposals that aim to expand health care coverage in California. The findings: The effect will be negligible …