Severance Pay – 3 Things to Know
I’ve been on both sides of the negotiation table when it comes to severance pay. I have drafted and negotiated them on behalf of companies as well as reviewed and negotiated them on behalf of departing employees. This experience allowed me to understand the value of providing an employee with severance pay from both perspectives. Below are the top 3 things you should understand about severance pay. This information is applicable to both an employer who may want to offer severance pay to an employee at termination as well as an employee who was offered severance pay along with a multi-page agreement to sign, The law does not require payment of severance unless there is a contractual obligation. At the time of employment, employers sometimes promise to give an executive level or other key employee severance pay should the employment relationship end, usually without cause, and under certain circumstances. These circumstances may be the business’s closing or change in ownership, reductions in force, etc. The promise of severance pay is usually offered as an extra incentive to entice top talent. … Continue reading
End of Year Checklist
We are fast-approaching the end of the year, which is when most businesses evaluate the successes and challenges of the past year and make plans for improvements in the coming year. Just like Santa goes over his list at this time of year, here is a checklist to help your business close out the year and prepare for 2018. Employee Pay Pay Audit – If your company has not performed a pay audit, this is the perfect time to do it since determining whether each employee should receive a raise and how much will require you to review each employee’s pay. Extend that review to an analysis of whether a pay discrepancy exists between employees in the same or similar positions. This will help mitigate your company’s risk of Equal Pay violation claims in the future. If you discover pay discrepancies, this is the time to address those discrepancies and provide raises and bonuses where appropriate. Bonus – As you determine employee bonuses, make sure to review your written policies related to bonuses to ensure that you are meeting the … Continue reading
New Law 2018 – Parental Leave Requirement Expanded to Smaller Employers
If your business employees 20 to 49 employees, you must prepare for a significant change that many small businesses deem a significant burden – job-protected parental leave. On October 12, 2017, Governor Brown approved SB 63, which expands the leave requirements of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to employers who employ at least 20 employees within a 75 miles (down from the threshold of 50 employees). If your company does not have a parental leave policy, or has one that does not meet the requirements of the new law, the next couple of months is the perfect time to create one, updated your employee handbook, and establish a contingency plan on how you will cover for employees who may take anywhere between 3 to 7 months of leave. Here is a short outline of the new Government Code Section 12945.6’s requirements: Employers with at least 20 employees within 75 miles of the worksite must now do the following: 1. Provide up to 12 weeks of parental leave to an employee who has worked for the employer for more than 12 … Continue reading
New Law 2018 –Immigration Enforcement
Immigration was a hot topic this year and starting January 1, 2018, employers will see increased obligations as they relate to employees’ immigration status. Earlier this month, Governor Brown signed AB 450 into law. Beginning January 1, 2018, employers will have the following obligations as they relate to immigration enforcement agents and the workplace: 1. No access without a warrant: Employers, and others acting on their behalf, may not voluntarily consent to immigration enforcement agents entering nonpublic areas of a place of labor without a warrant. For example, if you own a restaurant, immigration enforcement agents are free to enter the dining room but may not enter the kitchen or back office without a warrant permitting them to do so. Penalties for violating this requirement are $2,000 to $5,000 for the first violating incident and $5,000 to $10,000 for each subsequent violation. 2. No inspection of records without warrant or subpoena: Employers, and others acting on their behalf, may not voluntarily provide immigration enforcement agents the ability to access, review, or obtain the employer’s employee records without a subpoena or … Continue reading
New Law 2018 – Pay Privacy
“What did you make at your last job?” will be an illegal question when asked of a job candidate in 2018. California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed AB-168, the salary privacy bill, into law on October 12, 2017. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2018, and applies to all California employers regardless of size and whether they are in the private or public sector. There are three main parts to the new Section 432.3 of the California Labor Code: An employer shall not rely on an applicant’s salary history as a factor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or what salary to offer an applicant. An employer shall not, in any way, either directly or indirectly through third parties, seek an applicant’s salary history information (compensation and benefits). An employer, upon reasonable request, shall provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment. However, employment applicants may voluntarily disclose their prior salary history (without prompting), in which case, the employer may use the voluntarily provided salary history in determining that applicant’s salary. … Continue reading
What is Wrongful Termination?
Employment is At-Will with Exceptions The vast majority of employers and workers in California have heard the term “at-will” employment. Employers often interpret at-will employment to mean that employees could be terminated at the employer’s will. Workers often interpret it to mean it that employers may not terminate an employee without a reason or notice or for unfair reasons. The legal standards are somewhere in the middle. In California, “at-will” employment means that an employer may terminate the employment relationship for any reason or for no reason at all. On the flip side, employees may also quit for any reason or for no reason at all with or without notice. However, on the employer side, there are certain restrictions or exceptions to the “for any reason or for no reason at all.” That is, employers may not terminate (or make conditions such that an employee has no other choice but to quit) for a wrongful reason. In other words, employers may terminate the relationship so long as the reason for the termination is not discriminatory, in breach of a contractual … Continue reading
What is PAGA?
“Paga” means “pay” in Spanish, which is an apt acronym for the California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”). In California, PAGA authorizes aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for an employer’s Labor Code violations. The aggrieved employees generally retain 25% of any civil penalty recovered and the remaining 75% goes to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA). Additionally, the aggrieved employee may bring separate claims for penalties the are directly recoverable by the employee. In short, a PAGA claim allows an employee to step into the state’s shoes to enforce certain labor code violations as it applies to the employee and other employees. Since employees who prevail on PAGA claims could recover attorney’s fees and costs in addition to the penalties as they apply to each employee, an employer’s potential exposure on PAGA claims are quite significant. Sending a written notice of a PAGA claim by certified mail to an employer (and online to the State of California) is the first step … Continue reading
What is Sexual Harassment?
Taylor Swift’s testimony in her countersuit against former radio host David Mueller for alleged assault and battery has been making the rounds on social media. Taylor Swift won her counter-claim, which sought a symbolic $1 to make a point. The lawsuit argued that the trial would “serve as an example to other women who may resist publicly reliving similar outrageous and humiliating acts.” Now that Taylor Swift has spoken publicly about being groped, more women (and men) may be emboldened and find the courage to speak up. The issue of sexual harassment is now in the spotlight and on people’s minds, which means that inappropriate conduct in the workplace that may have previously been swept under the rug may start seeing the light of day in the form of complaints in the workplace. Below are some basic answers to frequently asked questions about sexual harassment in the workplace. What is sexual harassment in the workplace? Sexual harassment is harassment that is based on a person’s sex. In California, “harassment” in the employment context is defined as: — verbal harassment, such … Continue reading
Emoji and Deciphering Intent in the Digital Age
[Originally published as Emoji and Deciphering Intent in the Digitial Age, by Tanya Kiatkulpiboone and Andrea W. Paris, in Orange County Lawyer Magazine, June 2017, Vol. 59 No.6 on page 42.] An emoji known as “Face with Tears of Joy” was named the Oxford Dictionaries’ 2015 Word of the Year. See Figure 1. Caspar Grathwohl, President of Oxford Dictionaries, explained that “Emoji are becoming an increasingly rich form of communication, one that transcends linguistic borders[.]” Katie Steinmetz, Oxford’s 2015 Word of the Year Is This Emoji, Time (Nov. 16, 2015, 2:08 PM), http://time.com/4114886/oxford-word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/. Nevertheless, Oxford Dictionaries have yet to add any emoji to the dictionary, not even their Word of the Year, thereby acknowledging their expressive abilities without defining them. What Are Emoji? Emoji are small images or icons used to express emotion, ideas, or things in electronic communications. They were created in Japan in the 1990s by Shigetaka Kurita, who worked for one of Japan’s largest mobile phone operators. The name originates from the Japanese terms for picture (“e”) and written character (“moji”). Frequently Asked Questions: Emoji and Pictographs, … Continue reading
Biometrics and the Fingerprinting Time Clocks
Employees sued a national supermarket chain alleging that the employer violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) when it failed to satisfy the notice requirements for obtaining and keeping employee fingerprints used for timekeeping purposes. The potential damages are significant, especially for bigger employers. Under BIPA, a prevailing party may recover the greater of actual damages or $1,000 for negligent violations or $5,000 for reckless or intentional violations, plus attorney’s fees and costs. As the use of biometric data like fingerprints and thumbprints for clocking in and out grows in popularity so does the potential for liability. Employers who use biometrics for timekeeping should be aware of the laws regulating the use of biometrics in each and every state where you operate. For example, Texas has a similar law to BIPA and other states like Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire and Washington are considering bills similar to BIPA. What about California? California employers will be pleased to learn that California does not have the same notice requirement as BIPA. However, California employers who require the submission of fingerprints and/or photographs … Continue reading