There will be times when an employee presents a complaint regarding some workplace conduct. Depending on the nature of the complaint, the process that should be used in handling such employee complaints should not be overly complicated. Once the complaint is received,...

Many employers are of the belief that if they hire an insurance company, bank or financial institution to administer their 401(k), pension, health and welfare (including group medical, dental and vision plans) or Section 125 (cafeteria) plans, they no longer have...

Under California, law which became effective January 1, 2012, (see our Year End 2011 Newsletter), employers are required to continue to maintain and pay for health coverage under a group health plan for eligible female employees who take a Pregnancy Disability Leave...

In the recent weeks there has been considerable controversy over employers seeking to require applicants to provide the passwords to their Facebook accounts or other social media sites as part of the application process and as a condition of hiring. The issue has...

It is becoming increasingly difficult, according to many studies, for unemployed persons to find employment if they disclose that they are “unemployed”.  As a result, legislation has recently been introduced on the state and federal level to make amendments to the law...

California wage and hour laws provide that certain employees, such as executives, managers and administrative employees, are  “exempt” and  are not regulated by certain aspects of the Labor Code and the IWC Wage Orders, specifically  in relation to overtime...

For years it has been an acceptable practice for California employers to “round” up or down the recorded work time of their employees for payroll purposes, as long as the rounding practices followed the Labor Commissioner’s guidelines and did not serve as a method to...

Employers with 50 or more employees are currently covered by both the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal Family and Medical Care Act (FMLA) which permits employees who have worked more than 1250 hours in the most recent 12 month period of time to take...

Courts are regularly asked to review arbitration agreements relating to employment claims and more and more often are finding them to be invalid for a variety of reasons.  In a recent case, yet another court found an employer’s arbitration agreement invalid as to...