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Employment Law

California appeals court gives go-ahead to meal-period class action

09/21/2015
The Court of Appeals of California has upheld class-action certification allowing several employees to represent over 200,000 fellow current and former employees who claim they weren’t provided appropriate meal periods or premium pay for missed breaks.

9th Circuit: 10-year age difference creates presumption of age discrimination

09/21/2015
Generally, older employees who are turned down for promotions or aren’t hired must show that the person who was hired was younger. But how much younger? That question has now been answered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Another reason to handle with care after FMLA: Bosses could be held personally liable

09/21/2015

FMLA leave is an entitlement and interfering with that leave or punishing a leave taker will backfire. It may even mean personal liability for a manager who decides to punish an employee with an adverse action like termination or demotion.

Sexual bullying is harassment under California’s FEHA

09/21/2015
It’s a violation of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act for a supervisor to use an employee’s sexuality as a vehicle for making work life miserable. That’s true even if it wasn’t motivated by sexual desire. Bullying someone through sexual threats is sexual harassment.

Accommodation up in the air at Express Jet

09/21/2015
Recently, Express Jet Airways placed a Muslim flight attendant on unpaid leave after she refused to serve alcohol during flights.

What employment law cases will the Supreme Court hear next?

09/20/2015
The High Court has agreed to hear several cases during its 2015-2016 term that will have significant ramifications for employers.

Lawsuit guarantee: Fire the day FMLA eligibility starts

09/18/2015
Employees who have worked for at least one year and put in at least 1,250 hours are eligible for FMLA leave if they work for a covered employer. Expect a lawsuit if, on her one-year anniversary, you fire an employee who has requested FMLA.

Piece-rate pay trims $8 million from Petco

09/17/2015
National retailer Petco has settled a lawsuit filed by employees in California who groom pets in the company’s stores. The suit alleged the company failed to pay the workers minimum wage and overtime in violation of state and federal laws.

Can employee take intermittent FMLA leave to attend her child’s sporting events?

09/14/2015
Q. An employee’s daughter has diabetes and the employee has intermittent leave to provide assistance and care for her. The employee is now using FMLA leave to attend her daughter’s field hockey games and practices, claiming she needs to be there in case of diabetic complications during athletic events. The health care certification that we received in connection with this FMLA leave request does refer to a need to provide care during “flare ups.” Do we have to continue to permit the mother to attend the games and practices as intermittent FMLA leave?

What should we do? We’re worried that one of our company laptops may contain child porn

09/14/2015
Q. Our HR team has been advised that one of our employees has been arrested for possessing child pornography. This employee has a company laptop computer that is in our worksite. What, if anything, should we be doing with this computer?