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The recent deadline for California Governor Jerry Brown to pass or veto the bills on his desk resulted in a long list of new laws passed in California. Like we don't have enough right? In an effort to share the legal updates without totally overwhelming you, I will try to post one new law a day for the next week or two so check back daily. We'll start with requesting an employee credit report today. Assembly Bill 22 prohibits an employer or prospective employer, with the exce

This series applies to California lawsuits only. For rules regarding your state’s small claims procedure, visit the website for your state’s judicial branch. So you’ve figured out the Statute of Limitations issue. Now where to file your lawsuit – small claims or civil court? What is small claims court? Small claims court is a civil court lite to deal with dispute amounts (claims) that are relatively small. The disputes are resolved quickly, informally, without a jury or lawy

On September 26, 2011, the California Labor Commissioner filed a $17 million suit against ZipRealty for violations of minimum wage and overtime pay of its real estate agents. The premise for lawsuit is that ZipRealty misclassified its agents as exempt “outside salespersons” when they were in fact non-exempt employees. The significant fact here is the allegation that the real estate agents spend less than 50% of their time away from the office. If the ZipRealty loses, it woul

What is the interactive process and why should I care? If you are a disabled employee, you should care because unless your disability is obvious, it is incumbent upon you to initiate the conversation with your employer regarding your limitations and necessary accommodations. As an employer, California law requires you engage in this thing called the “interactive process” with your disabled employees and failure to do so subjects you to liability separate from the failure to r

As the economy continues to move sluggishly and unemployment rates remain high, business owners and employees alike have asked "should I file for bankruptcy"? Since I have no idea where the nearest bankruptcy court is, I enlisted the help of Irvine bankruptcy attorney Jeffrey Hsu to guest blog here today. "When should an individual file for bankruptcy? That is a difficult question to answer because the decision to file for bankruptcy is specific to the individual contemplat

This is the first post in a new series called "Anatomy of a Lawsuit" where I will explain the process, some legal terms, and considerations that go into a lawsuit. Comments and questions are appreciated so that I can provide information that is most useful to readers. We'll start with "when to file a lawsuit?" Today's topic is the statute of limitations (SOL), which is a fancy word for deadline to file a lawsuit. It’s a simple equation. Missing the SOL = you’re SOL. Differe

Let's do something fun today. Today’s post will discuss 3 reasons why cliquish work environments cost businesses money using last week’s episode of Project Runway appropriately titled “Can’t We All Get Along” as a practical example. The 3 reasons are: Drop in Productivity – Employees who are excluded from the group at large or not considered part of the “in-crowd” at work generally dread coming to work, are less likely to contribute to the company, and the presence of cliques

There is a baby boom among my friends and family. As we discuss pregnancy and new births, I noticed that conversations with new parents often oscillate between elation and anxiety, especially for first-time parents. Along with the joy of bringing a new life into this world comes the immense responsibility of caring for and raising this other person who is totally dependent on you. In response to a personal request from a college friend who is expecting, below is a list of 5

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) today announced its largest-ever administrative award of $846,300 against electrical supplier Acme Electric Corporation for firing an employee who was recovering from cancer. Charles Richard Wideman worked for Acme Electric as western regional sales manager overseeing sales operations in the company’s largest territory from February 2004 to March 2008. He developed kidney cancer in 2006 and prostate cancer in 20

Last week, California’s Governor Jerry Brown passed SB 559, which amends the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Fair Employment and Housing Act to include “genetic Information” as an impermissible basis of discrimination. “Genetic information” is defined by the law as any of the following information regarding an individual: (i) The individual’s genetic tests. (ii) The genetic tests of family members of the individual. (iii) The manifestation of a disease or disorder in family

I received an interesting response to my last post on the correlation between the unemployment rate and discrimination charges, which lead me to this blog post. A reader suggested that employers could protect themselves by not having any employees and hiring only independent contractors. Yes, there are many benefits to hiring independent contractors as long as they are truly that – independent. However, misclassification of independent contractors when they really are emplo

Today the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of unemployed persons remains at 14.0 million and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent (in California, it's even higher at 12.4%). The rate has shown little change since April. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was about unchanged at 6.0 million in August and accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a Final Rule requiring most private-sector employers to post a notice to employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Here is a quick Q&A for employers. Who has to post this new notice? All private-sector employers (including labor unions) subject to the National Labor Relations Act. The new notice requirement does not apply to agricultural, railroad and airline employers or the U.S. Postal Service for