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
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
3 Strategies to Increase Your Business Profits
Many businesses recently reviewed their profit and loss statements and took a closer look at the business’s profitability. This analysis usually prompts the question “how to increase my business profits?” Although this question could only be answered after becoming familiar with your particular business, below are 3 areas where small changes, if done right, could increase your profitability. Decreasing Bad Debt If your business model does not require customers to pay for products or services in advance, collecting on unpaid invoices is likely something you are all too familiar with. However, collection itself comes at a cost to your business. Not being able to recoup that collection cost limits most businesses’ incentive to pursue collection, rightfully seeing it as throwing good money after bad. You can tip the collection scale in your favor. The default rule that each party bears their own attorney’s fees may be modified by statute or by contract. That means that where the law does not provide for recovery of attorney’s fees, you and your customers could mutually agree that if you and your customer find … Continue reading
What Lawsuits and Disneyland Have In Common: The Emotional Costs of a Lawsuit
Whether you came to the decision to look for an attorney because you’ve been served with a lawsuit and have no choice but to defend yourself, or if you have reached an impasse in a dispute and have no choice but to say “see you in court,” what happens after this point is likely a mystery for you. If that’s the case, this is what a lawsuit looks like. But there’s also an emotional part of a lawsuit. Therefore, in addition to the obvious considerations of finding a capable attorney that you like and trust and the financial costs, you should also prepare for the emotional costs of a lawsuit. Since Disneyland’s just up the freeway, I’ll liken it to a day at Disneyland. It’s a Long Process If you’re traveling into town specifically to visit Disneyland with the kids, you expect to get there when the park opens, stay for the parade and fireworks, and even until the park closes. You may expect to do that for 3 days in a row. Why? The Lines are Long If Disneyland … Continue reading
Support Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation
New regulations related to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) went into effect on April 1, 2016. Among the various additions, which touch on a broad range of discrimination issues in employment, is a discussion about support animals as a reasonable accommodation in the workplace. As a servant to my 3 dogs and lawyer who has worked on dog bite cases, this was of particular interest to me. The new regulations specifically discuss assistive and support animals in the area of disability accommodation and provides that an assistive animal, including support animals, may constitute a reasonable accommodation in certain circumstances. What is an “Assistive Animal”? According to the new regulations, an “assistive animal” is defined as an animal that is necessary as a reasonable accommodation. These include: guide dogs for the visually impaired, signal dogs for the hearing impaired, and trained service dogs that meet the requirements of the Civil Code related to training and licensing. Additionally, a “support dog” or other animal that provides emotional, cognitive, or other similar support to a person with a disability, including, but … Continue reading
What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay
This is the first post in a new series called “What to Do” where I will discuss “what to do” in various common situations that come up in small and medium sized businesses. Feel free to send me your “what to do” question. Today’s topic is what to do when a client doesn’t pay. This is a common problem that businesses big and small face and if you’re in business, you’re selling services or products in exchange with the expectation that you will be paid for those services or products. The cost to your business of unpaid invoices is not just the dollar amount on each invoice but the opportunity cost of the investment you could make in your business from that income. Additionally, it costs your business time and money to collect on unpaid balances. Thus, the cumulative effect of multiples unpaid invoices, even for small outstanding amounts, is detrimental to your business’s viability and growth. Before starting work: For the proactive business here are some tips to help you avoid or minimize the change of having a client … Continue reading
Overtime Rules for Inside Salesperson Commissions
If your business sells products or services, it is likely that you have at least one inside salesperson who earns commissions on the sales that the inside salesperson makes. If this inside salesperson has the potential to earn a decent amount in commissions, your company may have classified this salesperson as an exempt commissioned employee. This means that you are not paying this person overtime pay for overtime hours worked. If this is the case, you may be incorrectly paying your inside salesperson and exposed to a potential claim for wage theft. Exempt vs Non-Exempt Classification Certain commissioned inside sales employees may be exempt from overtime pay in California if the employee earns more than one-and-a-half times the minimum wage each workweek, and more than half of the employee’s compensation represents commission earnings. (Outside salespeople do not need to meet the minimum salary requirements.) The calculation on the second prong could get complicated where the employee gets a draw on commissions. In addition to the two prongs, in order for an inside salesperson to be exempt from overtime pay, a … Continue reading
New Overtime Rules Under FLSA Approved – What You Need to Know
The Department of Labor recently approved changes to the overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that will have a significant impact on California employers and workers. According to the Department of Labor, the new rules will affect over 300,000 California workers who will either be entitled to overtime pay or receive raises to maintain their exempt employee status. Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about the new rules. Who is affected by the new rules? Employees who are exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay protections under the executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemption and the highly-compensated employee (HCE) exemption of the FLSA. (Learn about exempt vs non-exempt employees.) The FLSA covers a majority of workers. Details on who is covered by the FLSA are available from the Department of Labor. What are the changes made by the final rule? In addition to meeting the duties test, in order to meet the EAP exemption requirement, the employee must receive a salary of at least $913 per week or $47,476 annually. HCEs must receive $134,004 annually … Continue reading
Mediation – Anatomy of a Lawsuit Part VII
This series applies to California lawsuits only. For rules regarding your state’s civil litigation procedure, visit the website for your specific state’s judicial branch. This is a very broad overview. Multiple considerations must take place and detailed analysis goes into each step. To recap, we’ve discussed some considerations before filing a lawsuit such as What is the Deadline to File a Lawsuit and Where to File a Lawsuit. We’ve also discussed How to File a Lawsuit, Responding to a Lawsuit, and Discovery. Here’s a visual representation of what a lawsuit looks like. This article focuses on the phase within the blue circle. Although represented in the above flowchart as happening after the discovery phase, a case may go to mediation before a lawsuit is even filed or litigated (early or pre-litigation), at any other time, or may not go to mediation at all. It is an entirely an optional process aimed at settling the dispute before the parties spend the time and money to prepare for trial. However, if the parties are serious about settling a dispute, discovery gives each side a better sense of … Continue reading