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California

Employment Lawyer Network:
California

Joseph L. Beachboard (Editor)

California Employment Law

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

Click for Full Bio

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.

Keep careful notes about every job interview

01/08/2020
Always document what applicants tell you during job interviews. If you reject the candidate and she later claims she revealed protected information during the hiring process, you will have records to counter her claims.

When employee acts as his own lawyer, court may bend over backwards to help

01/08/2020
Employees who try to represent themselves in court often struggle. They may miss deadlines or simply not understand what claims they may have. Don’t let this lull you into false confidence that the case will be dismissed.

Details matter in arbitration, and flaws can render an agreement unconscionable

01/08/2020
Make sure your arbitration agreement is carefully drafted and presented. Confusing language or fine print can doom the agreement.

Precisely document justification for policies

01/08/2020
Here’s an important reminder when creating or modifying employment policies: Treat every memo as if it will end up as evidence in a lawsuit.

Cal/OSHA now requires more and faster injury reporting

01/08/2020
Recent changes to the Labor Code now require more workplace injuries to be reported to Cal/OSHA, and require serious injuries to be reported within eight hours. The changes went into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Even settling harassment cases costs a fortune

01/07/2020
There are many compelling reasons to prevent sexual harassment and stop it if it occurs. One of the most practical reasons: Harassment cases are very expensive to resolve, whether in court or with a settlement.

You must consider internal applicants

01/02/2020
Before you open a job listing to outside applicants, make sure you consider current employees. Ignoring them—especially those who possess the required experience and qualifications—can be a risky proposition.

Review disciplinary records to uncover hidden supervisory discrimination

12/18/2019
Before discharging an employee for violating a rule, make sure that he or she really did commit an infraction. Be particularly alert for the possibility that a supervisor might have tried to manipulate the rules to get an employee to break one.

Ignore man’s harassment claim at your peril

12/12/2019
About 16% of all sexual harassment complaints the EEOC receives each year are filed by men who claim women harassed them at work. As this case shows, ignoring female-on-male harassment can be costly.

California clarifies rest-period pay and rounding rules

12/02/2019
On Oct. 9, 2019, the California Court of Appeal weighed in on two long-debated wage-and-hour issues in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC.