Category: Employment Law

Tip pools are not allowed in all states, but they are in California. An employer can choose to use a tip pool and make all the employees combine their tips at the end of the night. The tips are then split evenly between those employees. As a business owner, you may be interested in using…

Employers generally have responsibilities when a worker gets hurt on the job in California. Whether you self-insure or pay for an outside policy, workers’ compensation in California is a no-fault program. It doesn’t matter who is to blame for the incident that causes a work injury. The workers typically get benefits regardless of fault. They…

Companies operating in California need to comply with federal laws, as well as more demanding California state employment laws. Federal employment laws extend certain rights to your workers, and sometimes California passes laws that expand on those rights. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) establishes federal rules that allow workers to take unpaid leave.…

Many employers are concerned with what their employees do when they’re off the clock. This might be because the employees are known in the community and the employer is concerned about how their after-hours activities will look on the company. It may also occur if the employer is concerned with how those activities will affect…

You cannot stop a disgruntled former employee from suing for unfair dismissal. Yet, you can reduce the chance they will and have a solid defense ready in case they do. Firing someone may seem a simple decision, yet you need to tread with care. However useless you feel someone is, they still have workers’ rights. Think…

In this information age, most employees are somewhat knowledgeable about their rights in the workplace. And this is generally a great thing as employees can easily identify signs of discrimination and take immediate action to address the problem. Unfortunately, that very wave that rightfully empowers employees about their rights in the workplace can also be…

In 2019, California looked to be on the verge of prohibiting mandatory arbitration provisions in employment contracts. The law was part of several pieces of legislation responding to #MeToo but, like most laws, would have wider ranging implications. AB 51 was initially meant to come into effect on January 1, 2020. However, this wasn’t meant to be.…

The California legislature has taken a further step toward allowing employees to talk about any harassment and discrimination they’ve experienced in the workplace. Late last month, it passed the “Silenced No More Act.”  If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the bill into law, employees will be free to speak out about any type of mistreatment they…

On July 15, 2021, the California Supreme Court gave its ruling on Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC. The case involves meal, rest, or recovery premium pay. The decision applies retroactively and requires a dramatic shift for employers in their obligations going forward. The issue in the case revolved around the rate of compensation to an…

With reopening largely underway across the country there have been mixed results about whether the economy is rebounding as one might hope. Questions also remain about how the economy in the US and other countries will recover as pandemic related government support winds down. Another question is what employment after COVID will look like once the recovery is in…

While the Delta variant of COVID-19 remains a concern, the push back to normalcy continues across the country. Along with reopening, the hope of continued recovery for the economy continues. However, employment numbers provide a confusingly mixed result thus far during this COVID reopening. On the positive side 850,000 people were hired in the US in June.…

As discussed recently on this blog, rest periods are often a fraught issue for employers. Hand-in-hand with this issue are wage statement claims, which are also often heavily litigated in class actions. With the recently discussed ruling employers were given clarity on certain practices for rest periods. The Ninth Circuit has now done similar for wage statements. In…

Proper accounting and practices for employee rest periods has been a fraught issue for employers, with many class actions arising out of questions of whether employers had proper procedures in place. Recently, the California Supreme Court made an important change by ending meal period rounding. This change required employers to take extra steps to ensure they…

A court case that began five years ago reached a final decision with the California Supreme Court early this month, and it marks an important change that all employers need to take notice of. Donohue v. AMN Services LLC is an action brought by a nurse recruiter. The plaintiff argued that her employer’s practice of rounding her meal…