Orange County Employment Attorney: Caltrans received a very special Halloween treat yesterday when a Los Angeles jury awarded employee Tony Brake, a 50-year old bridge engineer and first-line supervisor, over $570,000 in economic and emotional distress damages after senior Caltrans employees subjected him to whistleblower retaliation after he reported (and refused to participate in) discrimination against…
Orange County Employment Attorney: “Don’t come back until you’re 100%” . . . “Get your doctor to lift these restrictions, then we’ll talk” . . . “The maximum amount of leave you can take is six months – that’s just our policy.” These are just some of the many tactics employers use to avoid dealing…
Didn’t you get that memo? One of the most important new employment cases coming down from the California Supreme Court this year has definitely been Harris v. City of Santa Monica. In a nutshell, the Court’s holding in Harris gives California Employers even more incentive to document and exaggerate the mistakes and shortcomings of their employees.…
Orange County Religious Dress Discrimination Attorney: A recent amendment to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), AB 1964, clarifies that discrimination based on religion includes “religious dress practice” as well as “religious grooming practice.” The revised Government Code section 12926(p) states that “religious dress practice” must be construed broadly to include “the wearing or…
Orange County Minimum Wage Lawyer: This morning, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation to raise California’s minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour within three years, making it among the highest in the country in 2016. The minimum wage will be raised in separate increments –to $9 an hour on July 1, 2014,…
Orange County Employment Attorney: Just last week, on Monday, August 12, 2013, Governor Brown signed into law a bill that amends California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act to specify that sexually harassing conduct need not be motivated by sexual desire. Senate Bill 292, sponsored by the California Employment Lawyers Association, overrules the Court of Appeal’s…
We’re Back! Welcome to our new Orange County Employment Attorney Blog – your resource for important news and developments concerning California employee rights. Our Sexy New Look. Yep, we’ve had some work done, but now we’re back with the same great blog dedicated to exploring noteworthy issues facing California employees. As you can see,…
Orange County Employment Attorney: Wrongful termination lawsuits against Los Angeles celebrities are a hot topic. Erlinda T. Elemen, worked as a nanny for Sharon Stone, former model and actress, from 2006 to early 2011. Elemen claimed to have been fired from her position after Elemen refused to return overtime pay that Stone had given her.…
Orange County Employment Attorney: Urasawa, the trendy and enormously expensive Beverly Hills sushi restaurant, ranked second most expensive restaurant by the Daily Meal, will have to pay its workers large amounts of fines totaling $65,785. Three of Urasawa’s workers will be paid $38,585 for unpaid work accrued after not receiving overtime pay for work over…
Orange County Employment Attorney: The California Court of Appeal slammed the door today on mega law firm Bingham McCutchen’s attempt to have a wrongful termination lawsuit (filed against them by their former litigation associate, Hartwell Harris) thrown out of court and into binding arbitration. In the 10-page opinion (certified for publication), all three justices in…