New California Ban on “Captive Meetings” Named the “California Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act,” SB 399 prohibits employers from mandating employee attendance at any company sponsored meeting regarding “religious or political matters.” You may be curious about the need for such legislation. After all, how many employers force their employees to attend meetings to discuss…
New California Employment Laws – Volume I
Changes to the Protected Categories under California’s Anti-Discrimination Laws As many of you know, California has one of the most robust lists of “ protected categories” or characteristics enumerated in its anti-discrimination laws. Most of these anti-discrimination prohibitions are contained within California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), but there are also some articulated in…
Attending to Attendance Issues – Managing Leaves of Absence and Reasonable Accommodations
Managing employee absences is one of the trickiest topics under the human resources umbrella. While we say in our employee handbook that regular attendance is an essential function of the job, the day-to-day task of handling employee absenteeism, and juggling the myriad of related legal issues, becomes a nuanced dance through a minefield. These machinations…
Bad Behavior in the Workplace Part Two – Theft in the Workplace by both Employees and Employers
I know I have discussed the issue of employee theft before, but it is clearly making a comeback. Theft By Employees – Most of the time, when I see issues of internal theft reported by my clients, it is not petty theft, and it is not theft by rank-and-file employees. The situations that come to…
Bad Behavior in the Workplace – Sex and Violence
There tend to be themes to my client calls, and there have been a couple in the last few weeks that involve people making bad choices. I will break them down into a few subcategories. Employees Getting Cozy – The first issue involves fraternization amongst employees. For some reason, in the last few weeks, we…
Employers Need to Supply the Requisite Tools and Equipment for Work – NOT Employees
I know I have touched on this issue before, but it impacts so many industries, it bears repeating. And I am going to start with a story. Several years ago, I was sitting at one of my favorite bars in Hollywood and chatting to the bartenders, all of whom I knew. They were changing shifts,…
Be Wary of Hiring “Unpaid Interns”
In general, anyone we hire to work for us needs to be treated as an employee, for purposes of wage and hour laws, civil rights and harassment laws, worker’s compensation, and all other terms and conditions. If a business hires a worker to “train” or learn skills in a new position, they must still be…
Let’s Talk About Tips and Service Charges
I touched on this issue when the “junk fee bill” was passed, and especially now that bars, restaurants, and some other industries are exempt and can still include service charges and surcharges. But it is worth taking a deeper dive into the difference between tips (gratuities) and service charges because in this situation, language is…
Double-Down on Onboarding and Get Those Arbitration Agreements Signed
By now, you should all be aware of the new PAGA Reform, as I have been harping on it since the law passed back in June. The PAGA Reform will be most useful to compliant employers, who can reduce their potential PAGA penalties by 85% if they implement the compliance measures listed in the statute….
California Supreme Court Holds One Racial Slur Can Constitute Unlawful Harassment
While Simon Biles and Kate Ledecky have been breaking records, our state Supreme Court has been busy. In the case of Twanda Bailey v San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, on July 29, California’s highest court held that one racial slur by a co-worker can constitute unlawful harassment under California’s Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA). …