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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.

Court of Appeal rules multiple arbitration agreements are permissible

01/23/2018

Employers that want to arbitrate all employment-related disputes have won support from California’s state appellate court system, which ruled it acceptable to create different arbitration agreements for different employment-related purposes, each with different terms and conditions.

‘Political correctness’ doesn’t matter: Political belief isn’t a protected characteristic

01/23/2018

Some recently fired employees looking for reasons to sue their employers have started grasping at the gunwales of a “political correctness” lifeboat. Nice try but no dice was the verdict in a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals case.

Beware promises made during hiring process

01/23/2018

What managers say during the hiring process can spell trouble later if anything they say sounds like a promise that induces a candidate to accept a job offer and the employer fails to follow through.

Right to return after pregnancy depends on job

01/23/2018

Under California’s pregnancy discrimination protection laws, new mothers returning from pregnancy leave are entitled to return to their previous jobs, much as they are under the federal FMLA. However, there are real and practical limits to that right to return.

Tax reform bans deducting harassment settlement costs

01/23/2018

Confidential sexual harassment settlements will cost more under tax reform legislation enacted at the end of December.

Your good disciplinary records will almost always beat employee’s retaliation claim

01/02/2018

If you are certain you can justify your action, don’t be afraid to discipline a worker who has filed a discrimination charge or otherwise opposed alleged discriminatory actions. Generally, courts give employers leeway to discipline as long as they believe they acted in good faith.

When can we require medical exams? Are we allowed to make an employee pay for a job-related medical exam?

01/02/2018

Q. May employers require medical examinations of applicants and employees?

Do gift cards count as employee income?

01/02/2018

Q. We gave our employees gift cards as holiday gifts. Must these gift cards be reported as taxable income?

Employee’s suspicion can’t beat your solid evidence

01/02/2018

Smart employers always make employment decisions based on solid, business-related reasons. Then they document the decision-making process.

Enforce rules fairly and even-handedly, document any differences in discipline

01/02/2018

Good employers discipline everyone who violates work rules, without regard for protected characteristics. That may seem obvious, but sometimes supervisors get sloppy and decide that a particular employee should be punished for a violation another employee got away with.