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Employment Law

California Labor Department strategy shift benefits workers

07/23/2013
By focusing on wage theft and retaliation claims instead of broad enforcement efforts, California’s Labor Department has managed to assess more than $51 million in civil penalties against businesses found to be in violation of state labor laws.

Employee acts as own lawyer? Expect legal complications

07/23/2013
Before you jump for joy when an employee acts as her own lawyer in a federal lawsuit, consider this: Courts give pro se litigants lots of leeway, as this case shows.

One subjectively offensive comment won’t support lawsuit

07/23/2013

Courts are losing patience with employees who are overly sensitive when it comes to joking and off-color comments in the workplace, and are tossing out flimsy lawsuits because it’s not their role to manage workplaces.

Buying business and rehiring staff? Beware excluding employees who have filed lawsuits

07/23/2013
When you buy a business, the employees generally don’t automatically transfer. Typically, the new owner decides which employees to keep on the payroll. Before you exclude any existing employees from consideration, make sure that rejecting them won’t look like a failure to hire because they have previously filed discrimination litigation.

You’re not Dr. Phil! Resist temptation to label underperformers’ problems

07/23/2013
We all use psychological lingo to describe behavior we find annoying or disturbing. But when such terms are used in the workplace, that armchair analysis can create needless legal headaches.

Despite high-profile cases, class-action waivers still aren’t silver bullets in California

07/23/2013
For years, many California courts refused to enforce class-action waivers, exposing California businesses to class-action liability regardless of any agreement with employees or customers to forgo class litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion was supposed to change all that. It didn’t.

California court to decide key arbitration case

07/23/2013
In an important decision on whether employers can limit an employee’s access to an administrative hearing on wage claims, the California Supreme Court has ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. In American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed its long-standing rule that arbitration clauses under the Federal Arbitration Act will be enforced.

7 do’s and don’ts to keep wage-and-hour lawsuits at bay

07/23/2013
During a recent 12-month period, more than 7,750 FLSA wage-and-hour lawsuits were filed in federal courts, an increase of almost 10% over the preceding 12 months. The good news: There are some simple ways for employers to re­­duce the risk of wage-and-hour suits.

FMLA: After DOMA ruling, employee’s residence matters

07/22/2013
If you’re an employer with operations in several states, some of which recognize same-sex marriage and some of which don’t, you may have wondered how the Supreme Court’s Defense of Marriage Act decision affects you. Now that attorneys have begun delving into the decision and the law, answers are emerging, particularly concerning the FMLA.

It’s legal to punish boss/employee harasser more harshly than harasser of co-workers

07/19/2013
Supervisors can and should be held to a higher standard when it comes to enforcing workplace rules. That in­­cludes punishing a supervisor who har­­asses a subordinate more harshly than a co-worker who harasses a colleague.