With access to skilled talent, and seemingly unlimited venture-funding, it is no surprise that California leads the nation in the number and successful launching of companies.  Over the last several years, California healthcare and technology startups have raised almost $10 billion annually.  California has Silicon Valley, Silicon Beach, incubators, accelerators, coworker spaces, and leading venture capital firms.  Each week, business attorneys are busy guiding entrepreneurs from idea to implementation and from startups to emerging growthRead More…

On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court, in the c a s e Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, adopted a new, stricter test for determining whether workers are employees or independent contractors under California wage orders. Under the new standard (the “ABC test”), workers are presumed to be employees unless the employer demonstrates each of the following factors:

A California employer who terminates an employee may face, among other things, a lawsuit from the terminated employee in the form of an action for libel or slander, or for violation of the California Labor Code. Libel and Slander. In the employment context, “libel” is a false and unprivileged writing which has a tendency to injure the person in his occupation; and “slander” is a false and unprivileged oral statement which imputes a general disqualificationRead More…

The right of an employer to conduct lie detector tests is controlled by the federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (“EPPA”) and by the California Labor Code. Since the EPPA generally imposes greater obligations on employers seeking to engage in polygraph testing than the California Labor Code, this Newsletter shall focus exclusively on the EPPA rules. The EPPA makes it unlawful for an employer to require, request, or suggest that any job applicant orRead More…

The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (“FMLA”) and the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) provide rules governing the rights of employees to take time off from work for family medical reasons. This Newsletter shall briefly discuss the employees’ rights under these laws. Covered Employers. Both FMLA and CFRA apply only to private employers with 50 or more employees and public agencies regardless of the number of employees.

California has enacted the Workplace Violence Safety Act (the “Act”) permitting an employer, whose employee has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any person, which can reasonably be construed to be carried out at the workplace, to obtain a temporary restraining order and an injunction on behalf of the employee prohibiting further unlawful violence or threats of violence. Prior to this law, employers could not obtain a temporary restraining order orRead More…

A common question faced by employers is whether to give a former employee a favorable letter of reference to assist the former employee in obtaining a new position. This issue is particularly difficult when the employee was not an outstanding employee or if the employee was terminated for cause.

In a significant expansion of sexual harassment law in California, the California Supreme Court held, in Miller vs. Department of Corrections, et al, that any worker, male or female, has a claim for sexual harassment by showing that there was widespread sexual favoritism which created a hostile working environment, regardless of whether the employees who were granted favorable treatment willingly bestowed their sexual favors. Previously, a supervisor who granted favorable employment opportunities to an employeeRead More…

This Newsletter shall discuss the restrictions imposed on employers in recruiting and hiring employees by Federal law and California law. In general, both Federal and California law prohibit an employer from asking any question, in either an employment application or an employment interview, which relates to race, religion, color, national origin, sex or marital status, unless it is a bona fide occupational qualification for employment. Employers should carefully review their employment application forms and interviewRead More…