Summer has arrived and for many California employers, that means summer internships. Internships can be a benefit to both the student and the employer, but if not approached properly, can land the employer in legal hot water. Do we have to pay our company’s summer intern? Maybe.
Employers, you may want to take a seat for this… Recently, the Supreme Court of California ruled that under Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order No. 7-2001, “all working employees shall be provided with suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.” The court held that employers must examine the…
The issue of reimbursable expenses is often a hot topic amongst employees and their employers. While it seems obvious, for example, that an employee who uses his personal car to perform a work ‘errand’ will be reimbursed for his mileage, it is not often so cut and dry. What about the technician who buys his…
In Silicon Beach and throughout Los Angeles, offering meals to employees is becoming the norm. And not just any meals, but gourmet meals that cater to carnivores and vegans alike. While employees are thrilled, employers may be starting to look at their bottom line and question how long they can afford such a luxury. Perhaps…
With the seemingly endless claims surrounding employee misclassification (think Uber, Lyft, and the now out-of-business HomeJoy), many employers are understandably cautious about how they classify their workers. Unfortunately, there is no single test that enables an employer to quickly or easily determine whether an individual can/should be hired as an independent contractor/consultant/freelancer or as an…
Many employers incorrectly assume that if an employee is salaried (paid a flat amount rather than an hourly wage and not subject to partial-day or partial-week deductions), that employee is exempt from overtime. Unfortunately, and perhaps not surprisingly, this is not always the case. Generally speaking, being paid on a “salary basis” is a prerequisite…
As we have discussed previously in this blog, wage and hour lawsuits continue to be prevalent. Employers big and small have been facing an upward trend in wage-hour lawsuits over the past 10-15 years, and there is currently no end in sight. In the year 2000, for example, there were approximately 2,000 wage-hour claims filed…
Whistleblowers, who are individuals who report a person or organization engaged in an allegedly illicit activity, are protected from workplace retaliation under a number of federal and state laws, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, the Clean Air Act, the California Whistleblower Protection Act, and many others. In other words,…
As we discussed at length in this post, this year we will see substantial changes to FEHA that will affect business owners across the country, including in California. To get specific, FEHA’s new regulations set forth that, as of April 1, 2016, employers must have anti-discrimination and harassment policies that: · Are in writing. · …
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…