California Labor and Employment Law: Labor & Employment Law

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Labor & Employment Law

California Labor and Employment Law

Legal news & tips for employees.
By Eugene "Gene" Lee, Esq.

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Last Entry: November 17, 2009 at 22:38:08

Google Offers Caselaw?for FREE

Posted on November 17, 2009
Today Google announced the launch of a free federal and state caselaw database that is lightning fast and extremely powerful. It can be found at the “legal opinions and journals” section of Google Scholar. This is big news. Lawyers around the country are rejoicing now...

Free Pamphlets on Labor and Employment Laws

Posted on October 09, 2009
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) publishes numerous free pamphlets on California labor and employment laws. These pamphlets provide a brief but helpful and easy-to-understand explanation of employee rights under California’s harassment and discrimination laws...

Free Video Tutorials on Employment & Labor Laws

Posted on October 04, 2009
Interested in a quick overview of California labor and employment laws? Break out the popcorn and turn up your speakers. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has released several short videos, 90 seconds to 3 minutes in length each, offering short overviews of housing and employment laws...

District Spends $532k on Lawsuit that Settles for $150k

Posted on October 01, 2009
What’s wrong with this picture? A school district spends $532,123 in legal fees and costs to fight a wrongful termination lawsuit; after more than 2 years of litigation, it ends up settling the case for $150,000. According to an article in the Ventura County Star entitled “District spent $532,123 in lawsuit: Case is settled for $150,000, [...

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An Ode to Whistleblowers and the Law: Part II

Posted on September 27, 2009
Have you blown the whistle on illegal conduct at your workplace? If so, there are state and federal laws that could protect you from retaliation by your employer. For instance, the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 prohibits retaliation against employees of publicly-traded companies who report to the government or their supervisor reasonable suspicions of federal [...

We?ve Been Named a Top 100 Legal Blog!

Posted on September 04, 2009
Great news! The Daily Reviewer has just selected “California Labor & Employment Law” as one of its Top 100 Legal Blogs. We’re very excited by the recognition. A big thank you to the hard-working editors at the Daily Reviewer. Keep up the good work and we’ll keep on doing what we’ve been doing and [...

Employers Are Now Screening Employee Facebook and MySpace Pages

Posted on August 20, 2009
Do you have a personal account with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or any of the other social media websites that have become so popular lately? Chances are you do. Or you will soon. The growth of social media sites has been nothing short of breathtaking...

Bad Times, Worse Managers

Posted on August 18, 2009
As the world grapples with recession, here’s a look at how company managers have (mis)behaved during a time of high unemployment and off-the-charts human suffering. Job-Seeker Mistreatment. With the tables turned, employers have enjoyed having the upper-hand on desperate job seekers...

Economic Recovery Around the Bend?

Posted on August 16, 2009
The signs of recovery (or at least a bottoming out) are there. The US economy shrank just 1% between April and July of 2009, after shrinking at a torrid 6.4% pace in the first quarter. (New York Times). The Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 9,300, up almost 3,000 from its 52-week low...

Tip-Pooling ? Can My Employer Take My Tips and How?

Posted on July 31, 2009
Some History For better or worse, tipping has become an accepted part of American commerce. It is a practice that first emerged in the late 1800s. In 1917, the California legislature passed a law for the first time prohibiting employers from taking any portion of employees’ tips...

An Ode to Whistleblowers and the Law: Part I

Posted on July 29, 2009
Wikipedia defines a “whistleblower” as a “person who publicly alleges concealed misconduct on the part of an organization or body of people, usually from within that same organization”. It takes a special person to be a whistleblower, to set aside their own self-interest in favor of what’s right, to stand alone against an entire organization, [...

Dept. of Labor Fails to Protect Workers: ?We have a crisis in wage theft?

Posted on April 08, 2009
Is your boss ripping you off by refusing to pay you overtime? Forcing you to work off the clock? Not letting you take meal or rest breaks? If so, you might want to think twice about calling up the U.S. Department of Labor to lodge a complaint. According to a recent GAO report, it [...

We?ve been named a Top 100 Employment Law Blog!

Posted on April 04, 2009
The good folks over at the "Delaware Employment Law Blog", which is itself a top-notch employment law blog published by the Delaware law firm of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, have seen fit to include our blog in their roundup of the Top 100 Employment Law Blogs across the country ...

LAPD Hit with $2.3 Mil. Sexual Harassment Jury Verdict

Posted on April 02, 2009
The LA Times reports in an article entitled "Jury awards $2.3 million in LAPD harassment case" that a federal jury has awarded a female police officer $2.3 million for sexual harassment and retaliation by members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division in 1996...

California Judges Getting $46,000 a Year ?Perks? from Counties: Is This OK?

Posted on March 31, 2009
Imagine you are suing someone. Imagine you and the defendant are before a judge. Imagine that judge happens to be receiving $46,000 per year in "perks" and "supplemental benefits" from your opponent that you don’t know about. Would you have doubts about how fair this judge can be to you? Do you have [...

What You Need to Know About Title VII and the ADA

Posted on March 23, 2009
The following is an article I recently wrote for the ABA GP-SOLO periodical. It is geared toward other attorneys but employees may find it helpful in thinking about their cases. Note, for employees in California, I would generally recommend against filing claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the [...

Support the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 Now!

Posted on February 14, 2009
Are you a consumer? An employee? A credit card user? Then you need to know about the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. We’ve already explained a number of times why arbitration is awful for people like you. Is it any surprise, then, that credit card agreements, employment agreements and everything in between typically force [...

Tip for Unemployed Job Seekers ? Stay Positive!

Posted on February 03, 2009
And the hits just keeps on coming. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , US unemployment steadily marched upward from 5.0% in May 2008 to 7.2% in January 2009. Meanwhile, the LA Times reports the U.S. economy lost a record 2.6 million jobs in 2008 and that rate is expected to accelerate markedly [...

?Change? is Coming to the Federal Courts ? Obama-style

Posted on November 10, 2008
With a Democrat about to enter the White House for the first time in 8 years and with a Democratic-majority firmly in control of Congress, the conservative Federal judiciary is about to come face-to-face with the C-word ? and in a big way. As the Huffington Post reports in "Obama’s Chance to Reshape Courts: [...

$3.4 Mil. Settlement is Latest Female College Coach Award

Posted on October 16, 2008
It seems female collegiate sports coaches have been long been getting the short end of the stick compared to their male counterparts, but that looks like it’s about to change. According to an article at News-press.com, "FGCU settles gender bias suit" , two former Florida Gulf Coast University coaches will split a $3...

How Much Do Lawsuits Cost?

Posted on September 26, 2008
People in the US love to rail about the fact that there are too many lawsuits, too many greedy plaintiffs gaming the system, too many people refusing to take responsibility for their own errors. Numerous websites have sprung up that have dedicated themselves to poking fun at stupid lawsuits...

The McDonalds Coffee Cup Case

Posted on September 25, 2008
Are there too many lawsuits in the US? Are there too many plaintiffs who are just trying to game the system and hit the judicial jackpot? Are there too many frivolous lawsuits like the McDonald’s coffee cup lady weighing down the economy? If you’re like most people, you probably answered yes...

Yours Truly Will Be MIA for 3 Weeks

Posted on August 12, 2008
Sorry folks but it looks like I won’t be posting here for a while. I’m about to head into 3 straight weeks of back-to-back depositions (lawyer-speak for witness interviews in a lawsuit). For the non-lawyers out there, that’s a LOT of depos...

Thank You to Michael Fox of ?Jottings by an Employer?s Lawyer?

Posted on July 17, 2008
Michael Fox runs one of the oldest and most respected employment law blogs (blawgs?) in the business, "Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer" . He was blogging long before it became fashionable. I’ve been a regular reader of his blog and a fan...

Arbitration Works Better than Lawsuits . . . But for Whom?

Posted on July 16, 2008
This gem of an editorial appeared in the Wall Street Journal: "Arbitration Works Better than Lawsuits" . The author is a lawyer at Hogan & Hartson, an 800+ lawyer law firm whose enviable roster of clients reads like a who’s who of Fortune 500 companies: Alcatel Space, Carnival Cruise Lines, Genetech, Exxon, General Dynamics, [...

?Desk Rage? on the Rise

Posted on July 10, 2008
If you thought ‘road rage’ was a problem, make way for ‘desk rage’. According to this Reuters report, "Desk rage spoils workplace for many Americans" , anger in the workplace is on the rise. And it isn’t just about ‘going postal’...

Former CIA Operative Sues Agency for Suppressing WMD Intelligence

Posted on July 02, 2008
It takes a lot of courage for an employee to stand up to their employer when asked to break the law or look the other way. For those who choose to Do the Right Thing, the decision typically wreaks havoc on their jobs, their careers, their marriages, their finances ? on their entire lives...

Bigotry Gets Subtle ? Code Word Slurs in the Workplace

Posted on July 01, 2008
Do you know what a "reggin" is? Tomeika Broussard didn’t either, but when her supervisor called her a "reggin", she suspected it was something bad. Later, she figured out what it was: the n-word spelled backward. Broussard filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and was awarded $44,000 in 2007 for racial harassment [...

H1-B Visa Workers: Know Your Rights

Posted on June 19, 2008
I had an interesting call from a client today. Let’s call him Roger. Roger is originally from India but had recently come to California to work for a software company on an H1-B visa, a special visa to allow foreigners with special skills to work in the US...

Respected Judge Posts Sex Images Online

Posted on June 12, 2008
As you may know, California falls within the jurisdiction of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the chief judge of that court is one Alex Kozinski. A brilliant jurist, he was first appointed to the Court by Reagan at the tender age of 35, making him the youngest federal appeals court judge in [...

Shocker - U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Employees!

Posted on May 28, 2008
The U.S. Supreme Court has been decidedly anti-employee and pro-employer ever since Dubya-appointed Justices Roberts and Alito joined the bench. The Supreme Court’s infamous and awful Ledbetter v Goodyear ruling (and Congress’s voting down of the law intended to overturn Ledbetter) seemed to be clarion call of the new conservative majority on the Court, causing [...

I?ll Be Taking A Brief Break from Posting

Posted on April 17, 2008
My work schedule for the next month is going to be very tight so posts may become more sporadic. I’ll let you all know as soon as I am able to get back to more regular posting. If you’ve got questions, feel free to click on the “Ask An Attorney” tab at the top and [...

A Judge Is (Finally) Forced to Step Down

Posted on April 08, 2008
A little while ago, I posted about Judge James Brooks. He had engaged in shenanigans that turned a trial into a circus and humiliated Michelle Reinglass, one of the leading plaintiff-side trial lawyers in California. Well Judge Brooks has finally gotten what was coming to him...

10 Signs You?re About to be Fired

Posted on April 05, 2008
Getting fired doesn’t always involve a dramatic showdown meeting with your boss who tells you to pack your things and get out. In an age where employers are paranoid about getting sued by fired employees, firing an employee is often more complicated, involving many subtle steps...

?If you?ve got a job, hang on to it?

Posted on April 04, 2008
It looks like the proverbial bullpucky is hitting the economic fan. According to an Associate Press news article, Huge Job Losses Set Off Recession Alarms, the U.S. economy lost almost a quarter million jobs in the first three months of 2008 alone. That’s a staggering rate...

Fired Chase Manhattan Employee?s Recovery for FMLA Violations Could Exceed $7 Mil.

Posted on April 04, 2008
According to a Law.com news article, FMLA Verdict Could Cost Chase Manhattan $7.6 Million, Nicholas Lore, a 63-year old Chase Manhattan regional manager who was fired after making several requests for medical leave for a serious health condition under FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act), may be due for a big recovery...

Fat-ism More Widespread than Racism

Posted on April 03, 2008
Did you know that it is NOT illegal to discriminate against someone because they are fat? There are federal and state laws against discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition, religion, etc...

An Act of Goodness

Posted on March 27, 2008
Ever come across a story that just leaves you speechless? Here’s the story that did that to me. I hope it brings a smile to your face, just like it did to mine. Starbucks barista Sandra Andersen only knew Annamarie Ausnes as an upbeat customer who would come in the mornings to order her usual cup [...

Our National Deficit ? Who Do I Blame?

Posted on March 27, 2008
Is anyone else concerned about the direction our country is heading towards? Because I know I am. Here is just one symptom of the problem, our nation’s skyrocketing budget deficit. The US has charged up its credit card like a spoiled teenager. And I believe there’s going to be hell to pay when the bill [...