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Employment Law

Juvenile behavior isn’t always harassment

02/22/2010

Teen employees are sometimes clueless about what’s appropriate at work. From time to time, their behavior may seem … well … juvenile. Feel free to counsel youthful employees when things need to be brought back into control. And don’t worry. Kids acting their age doesn’t automatically mean you’re liable for sexual harassment.

SoCal grocery chain fined for teen labor hazards

02/22/2010

The Superior Super Warehouse chain of grocery stores must pay $79,200 in penalties for allowing teenage employees to operate dangerous equipment. The U.S. Department of Labor cited the chain for violations of the Fair Labor Standard Act’s child labor provisions at 33 stores in Southern California.

Challenge huge attorneys’ fees: Courts now have discretion to limit awards in some cases

02/22/2010

One of the biggest shocks employers get when an employee or former employee wins a lawsuit against them is the attorneys’ fee award. Employers typically have to pay the employee’s legal fees and expenses when the employee wins even a modest victory. Those fees can be far greater than the actual lost wages and other damages. Fortunately, the California Supreme Court has stepped in, recently concluding that trial judges have wide discretion to reduce jury awards when the employee’s damages are small but the legal expenses are large in comparison.

Document accommodations process–especially if it breaks down over worker’s suggestion

02/22/2010

Disabled employees are entitled to reasonable accommodations of their disabilities under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). That includes the obligation to engage in an interactive process to determine what, if any, accommodation is possible. If the process breaks down, employers that acted in good faith won’t be held responsible.

Employees must be free to do as they wish during rest periods, meal breaks

02/22/2010

Under California’s wage-and-hour laws, employees must be completely relieved of their duties during rest periods and meal breaks. Employers can’t count downtime during work hours as rest and meal time.

Court removes ‘unconscionable’ parts of arbitration agreement

02/22/2010

Here’s some good news for employers that use arbitration agreements: A California appellate court has ruled that when only part of an arbitration agreement turns out to be invalid because it is “unconscionable,” the rest of the agreement remains intact if the invalid section can easily be removed.

Senior public employees may get hearing before firing

02/22/2010

Generally, public employees are entitled to a hearing before they are terminated. But in some government functions, employees who work at senior levels are deemed to be serving at the pleasure of the head of their agency or unit.

$2.6 million lawsuit could clean out L.A. car wash

02/22/2010

As part of a wider crackdown on companies that violate worker protection laws, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a lawsuit alleging that a Los Angeles car wash, Auto Spa Express, failed to pay minimum wage and overtime to its employees and denied them workers’ compensation benefits.

State Parks & Rec settles gender- and gay-bias claims

02/22/2010

The California Department of Parks and Recreation recently settled a sexual harassment lawsuit brought in August of 2008 by a park ranger who argued that she was harassed and experienced gender and sexual-orientation discrimination during the six years she worked at San Onofre and San Clemente State Beaches.

Courts rule Schwarzenegger’s state furloughs were improper

02/22/2010

Three trial court orders have called for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to end three-days-per-month furloughs of state workers who are not paid with general-fund money. Schwarzenegger implemented the furloughs last year as one way to handle the state’s ongoing budget crisis.