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California

Other than ‘Congratulations!’ avoid most comments about pregnancy

01/15/2016
California law prohibits harassment on account of pregnancy. But not every comment about a pregnancy is grounds for a lawsuit. An innocent comment—or even a mildly offensive one—may be annoying, but that’s not illegal.

HR director can file wage-and-hour complaint

01/15/2016
Generally, employees who complain to their employer that they aren’t being properly paid or classified under the Fair Labor Standards Act are protected from retaliation for those complaints. But what about a manager?

Feds target no-fault attendance

01/08/2016
No-fault attendance programs were designed to be completely objective, the idea being that all absences and therefore all workers are treated equally. But the FMLA and ADA require employers to know why an employee was absent, so the “hear no evil” approach can’t work.

Is there any requirement to pay a special premium to employees who must work on holidays?

12/21/2015
Q. This came up last month. We needed some of our employees to work during the holidays. Were we required to pay them extra for those days?

What are the limits on hours that school-age children can work in California?

12/21/2015
Q. We would like to employ some high school students to do clerical work. What are the laws regarding the number of hours we can ask them to work?

Can we require employees to pay for the portraits we display on our website?

12/21/2015
Q. I have a professional photographer come in on each employee’s first day of work to take photos for our company’s website. I ask each employee to pay half the cost of this service. A new employee is refusing to pay half the cost of his photos. Can I force him to pay?

Courts willing to make easy arbitration agreement fixes

12/21/2015
If some part of your arbitration agreement is deemed unconscionable but there’s an easy way to fix it, at least one California court will do it right then and there.

Quickly address allegations of disability discrimination

12/21/2015
If you find out that a supervisor may have treated a disabled worker poorly, fix the problem promptly.

Calif. rule on paying for time spent on security checks more generous than federal law

12/21/2015

About a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, time spent waiting for security checks after the end of a shift were not compensable minutes. California, however, has greater worker protections built into its version of the FLSA. That’s why a group of Apple store employees brought a suit over their own wait time at the end of their shifts, seeking compensation despite the Supreme Court decision.

The easy way to stop discrimination lawsuits: Show proof of legit business decisions

12/21/2015
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: The best defense against a discrimination lawsuit is a pile of documents showing what you decided and why. For example, if you are sure an employee isn’t qualified for a promotion, document those reasons at the time you make the decision. Don’t wait until he or she sues.