Substantial Changes to Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Policy Requirements Start April 1 for California Employers

2016 is a busy year in the often-changing world of California employment law. We have discussed many of the updates employers need to be aware of here (think minimum wage increase, the Fair Pay Act, changes to Unruh, and more). The newest change that California businesses need to be aware of involves changes to the…

Understanding the Whistleblower

Retaliation in the workplace, whether imagined or not, continues to account for almost half of all employment claims filed with the EEOC. Last year, in 2015, 44.5% of the charges filed were for retaliation. In other words, a majority of disgruntled employees claim not that they were discriminated against, but that they received adverse treatment…

Managing Politics in the Workplace

Tis the season for political debates. Unless you’re running a political campaign or consulting group, your employees’ political view can run the gamut. With the potential for heated debates over candidates and the issues they stand for to lead to hurt feelings and, in some cases, claims of harassment and discrimination, a California employer needs…

How Start Ups Can Protect Their Intellectual Property

Tech incubators abound these days, especially in and around Silicon Beach. These ‘technology campuses’ allow start ups to collaborate and share ideas, strategies, resources, and knowledge. And sometimes, proprietary information. When discussing their ideas with others, entrepreneurs need to be extremely mindful of the risks to their intellectual property. For many start ups, trade secrets…

Board Members and Whistleblowers

Whistleblower complaints are often directed to board members or committees of the board of directors and recently, a California court ruled that whistleblowers are allowed to seek compensation from directors of a company, broadening legal protections for whistleblowers by expanding those who can be held liable in such cases. In another win for the whistleblower, the court…