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If an employee injures third parties while working, his or her employer can be held liable for those injuries. Normally, an employee’s regular commute to and from work is not considered to be “working” time, so employers aren’t responsible for accidents that happen then. A California court, however, recently held that an employee who is […]
There are two types of four-day workweeks in California: alternative workweeks and reduced-hour workweeks. Alternative Workweeks When there is no reduction in the overall number of hours the employee works in a week (or in the employee’s workload), this is called an “alternative workweek schedule.” An example of an alternative workweek would be employees working […]
According to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), managers at the Washington-state based Boeing Corporation discriminated against female employees when they administered the company’s Reduction in Force (RIF) evaluations, used to determine which employees would be laid off. One Boeing employee, Antonia Castron, asked to be transferred away from a manager who often stated […]
We are an employer with fewer than 10 employees. Can a single employee elect an alternative work week? If she does, can she work weeks that look like this?: M-10, T-3, W-5, Th-8, F-4, Sa-10 First, the alternative work week rules apply to all California employers regardless of the size of the company, although there […]
In 2005, the California Supreme Court ruled that, under state law, individual managers and corporate officers couldn’t be held personally liable for unpaid wage claims. In other words, only the company could be forced to pay back wages. This was an important victory for California employers (Find out more on the 2005 case). But the […]
Protecting your business from unnecessary litigation begins well before an employee works a single day. Asking the wrong application or interview questions—or asking the right questions in the wrong way—can land you in court and come with a hefty price tag. But if you have a plan and take the time to learn which questions […]
California law requires that employers provide female employees who wish to express breast milk for nursing infants with: A reasonable opportunity to take breaks for the purpose of expressing breast milk, which can be timed with the employee’s regular break schedule; and Reasonable access to a private location to express breast milk, other than public […]
By now, most employers have at least heard that California prohibits “use it or lose it” vacation policies—meaning that once an employee earns vacation time, that time can’t be forfeited for any reason. But can an employer decide not to award vacation time right away to new employees? The answer is yes—according to a recent […]
A California Employer Advisor reader asks: Our company policy gives employees their actual birthday off with pay. A birthday that falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday will be taken on the preceding or following workday. Subject to a supervisor’s approval, employees may take another day off, but it must be within one week of […]
An employee takes pregnancy-related medical leave. While she’s out, you discover that she falsified certain time sheets and billing records. On the day she’s set to return from leave, you instead tell her that she’s being terminated. The employee sues for pregnancy discrimination. Should you be worried? You should think long and hard before terminating […]