Retaliation is one of the most misunderstood concepts in employment law
Like many employment law firms, ours receives frequent calls from people who believe they have been retaliated against by their employers. Almost all have; the operative question, however, is whether they have been subject to unlawful retaliation. While almost every...
Courtroom lessons Ellen Pao taught us
As the dust from the harassment and retaliation trial-of-the-century settles, take-aways emerge for litigation of future employment cases. Although Ellen Pao lost on all the claims she made against her former employer, well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm...
The rise of “take what you want” vacation policies
Companies are increasingly ditching traditional vacation accrual policies in favor of allowing employees to take whatever vacation they want. Most employers allow workers to earn set amounts of paid vacation that accrues over time worked (e.g., 1 hour of vacation for...
Difficult supervisors don’t entitle employees to disability leave
Managers are often difficult or contentious, which understandably causes employees stress. But stress caused only by a difficult boss does not qualify as a "disability" under California law. In Higgins-Williams v. Sutter Medical Foundation, the plaintiff took medical...
“He said, (s)he said” evidence good enough to get discrimination cases to trial
Many people who suspect they have been wrongfully terminated think they need "smoking gun" evidence to even have a chance in court. Not so, says a recent California appellate court case. In Nigro v. Sears, Roebuck and Co., the court ruled that just about any kind of...
New California sick leave rules go into effect soon
Almost all California employers must offer employees paid sick time under the new "Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act," which goes into effect on July 1, 2015. How much time must be offered depends on whether employees are given leave right away, or whether it...
Payments for employment claims are almost always taxable
It's increasingly common for lawyers to try to shield payments in employment cases from taxes by characterizing them as payments for "personal injury." After a recent decision by a California appellate court, they shouldn't. Payments for personal, physical injuries...
California law prohibits harassment of employees of contractor companies
California courts continue to extend sex harassment protections to all categories of workers, most recently employees of contractors working at employer job sites. In Hirst v. City of Oceanside, an employee of a phlebotomy company working for the Oceanside Police...
