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Employment Law

New California laws have employment implications

11/18/2011
From electronic employment veri­­fication to maternity insurance, Cali­fornia employers have new issues to consider, following recent enactment of these laws:

If you spot FMLA mistake, go ahead and fix it

11/18/2011
Here’s something to consider if you discover an FMLA leave mistake: Just fix it. If you erroneously imposed some kind of discipline for violating your attendance rules, rescind it. Chances are a court won’t hold your error against you.

Don’t want class-action arbitration? Say so

11/18/2011
When claims involve unpaid overtime or misclassification, attorneys representing employees naturally want to handle the case as a class or collective action. Some employers think that if they include an arbitration agreement in their terms and conditions of em­­ploy­­ment, a wage-and-hour claim has to go to arbi­­tra­­tion as an individual claim. That’s not necessarily true.

How to react to protests, strikes by Occupy (insert your city)

11/18/2011
With the Occupy Wall Street protests spreading to dozens of U.S. cities, you may be faced with workers who join in such activities, whether in person or via social media. How should you respond?

What are the details on the IRS’ new ‘classification amnesty’ program?

11/16/2011
Q. We’ve heard the IRS recently announced a new program for employers to reclassify their workers. Can you tell us about it?

NLRB on social media: Facebook firing didn’t break law

11/16/2011

While the law concerning acceptable employee use of social media remains uncertain, the NLRB is starting to shed more light on what conduct is acceptable under the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB has issued a decision in Karl Knauz Motors Inc., holding that Knauz did not violate the NLRA when it terminated an employee.

Suit: Marion mining company snubs female applicants

11/16/2011
Marion-based Mach Mining faces charges it has refused to hire women for coal mining positions since it began operating in 2006. According to the EEOC, several well-qualified female applicants have applied for positions at the mine, but none have been hired.

Mendota restaurant hit with harassment lawsuit

11/16/2011
A fast-food franchise in Mendota and its owner are in hot water over allegations that they did nothing after female employees complained that a manager subjected them to sexual harassment, inappropriate touching and even sexual assault.

Needle points toward court for WRS Compass

11/16/2011
Civil construction and environmental cleanup firm WRS Compass has lost its bid to have racial discrimination and harassment charges dismissed stemming from incidents at a Chicago work site.

Lawsuit accuses temp agency of gender bias, retaliation

11/16/2011
The EEOC’s Chicago office has filed a class-action lawsuit against Source One Staffing, Inc., alleging the employment and temp agency assigns workers based on gender, explicitly defining some jobs as “men’s work” or “women’s work.”