Arbitration Agreement: Do I Want It?
You probably signed an arbitration agreement at your last doctor’s visit, when you signed up for your gym or yoga studio membership, or when you signed a listing agreement with your realtor. The ubiquity of these agreements makes it especially important for us to understand them as consumers, business owners, employers, and employees. What is an arbitration agreement? Arbitration is one of the alternative means of resolving disputes (alternative to filing a lawsuit that is). Thus, an arbitration agreement is an agreement to take disputes out of the court system to be decided by a private arbitrator (or a panel of arbitrators) usually following a different set of procedural rules than the court. People and companies choose to arbitrate for various reasons. The process is generally more streamlined and allows for a quicker resolution of disputes. It is often times cheaper than litigating in court, and the proceedings are typically not part of the public record. Lastly, the conventional wisdom is that you reduce the risk of a run-away-jury. Do you want to arbitrate? Whether agreeing to arbitrate potential disputes … 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
Disability Accommodation
Here’s a common situation, an employee calls in sick and a couple of days later you receive a doctor’s note taking the employee off work for 2 weeks. If you are an employer with 5 or more employees in California, you are subject to the anti-discrimination provisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”). If you have 15 or more employees, you are also subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Both laws require employers to find a reasonable accommodation for an employee who suffers a physical or mental disability so that the employee could return to work. California employers have the added duty to engage in the interactive process in good faith. The interactive process is simply engaging the employee in a dialogue to understand their restrictions and available accommodations. Why does it matter? From a management perspective, truly engaging in the interactive process and making the appropriate efforts to accommodate a disabled employee shows all your workers that they are valued beyond being merely disposable workers. From a legal/monetary standpoint, doing it right will prevent … 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
New Proposed Overtime Rules – Potential Effects on California Employers
There has been much discussion about the Department of Labor (DOL)’s proposed changes to federal overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). California employers may have mostly ignored the federal overtime rules because California’s rules are more protective of employees and have a higher threshold for overtime exemptions. However, if these rules go into effect, California employers will have to make some adjustments. Failure to properly classify employees as exempt vs non-exempt and follow overtime rules could be costly for employers. What Are the Proposed Changes to Federal Overtime Rules? Under FLSA regulations, an employee is exempt from the right to overtime pay if s/he meets the following 3 requirements: Paid on a salary basis regardless of the number of hours worked; Receives a salary of at lease $455/week or $23,660/year; and Satisfies the duties tests for exempt employees (executive, administration, professional, computer, and outside sales regulations). The DOL proposed increasing the salary threshold from $455 per week to $970 per week ($50,440) annually. The salary threshold for the highly-compensated employee exemption would increase from $100,000 to $122,148 per … Continue reading
Independent Contractor Misclassification
A few days ago, Uber agreed to pay up to $100 million to settle class-action lawsuits in California and Massachusetts claiming that its drivers are employees not independent contractors. Paying out $100 million is by no means the end of this story. The settlement does not affect other drivers’ ability to sue on the same grounds nor does it preclude the Labor Commissioner from determining that individual drivers are in fact employees (which it has done in at least one case). The U.S. Department of Labor also recently issued a formal interpretation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act as it pertains to the classification of independent contractors. This advisory opinion signaled the intention of federal regulators to scrutinize independent contractor classifications and treat most workers as employees. Most companies do not have enough independent contractors to be subject to class action lawsuits worth $100 million, but how will a $1 million lawsuit or even a $100,000 lawsuit affect your business? If your company uses independent contractors, here are some steps you could take to minimize your exposure: Closely examine … Continue reading
Victim of Domestic Violence Leave
Women make up just under half of the U.S. labor force (46.8% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Thus, ensuring that women are safe, healthy, and productive is imperative to your business and the country’s economic growth. Yet, every 9 seconds, a women in the U.S. is beaten or assaulted. A greater proportion of women are victims of domestic violence but men suffer from domestic violence as well. In fact, in 1 year, more than 10 million women and men are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence). In an effort to protect victims of domestic violence the California legislature have enacted laws to protect employees who are victims of domestic violence. Do You Know Your Legal Obligations to Your Employees? Non-discrimination: All employers are prohibited from discharging, discriminating, or retaliating against an employee: Who takes time off to appear in court pursuant to a subpoena or court order. (Lab. Code § 230) Because of the employee’s status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, if the … Continue reading
Tip Pooling Distribution Restrictions Upheld by Ninth Circuit
Tip pooling is a common practice in the restaurant industry but the legal back and forth of how much and to whom the pooled tips could be distributed has lead to much confusion within the food services industry. Restaurants May Not Require Wait Staff to Share Pooled Tips With Back of House Staff Last month, in the case of Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association et al. v. Perez et al., the Ninth Circuit upheld the Department of Labor’s rule barring employers from collecting tips given to waiters or other service employees and distributing to back of house staff not in the chain of service (i.e. cooks and dishwashers). Since California is within the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction, the Court’s decision in this case will lead to increased litigation against restaurants for unpaid wages. Highly successful restaurants have closed their doors as a result of these wage and hour claims. PRACTICAL TIP: Enterprises with tip pooling practices should have a written tip pooling policy that specifically outlines how tips are pooled and shared. Such written policies should clearly state that pooled tips will not be … Continue reading
California Aggressively Fights Wage Theft
Senate Bill (S.B.) 588 that went into effect on January 1, 2016, seeks to ensure recovery of unpaid wages by victims of wage theft. What is Wage Theft? Wage theft is defined as failing to pay workers for all of their work, regardless of whether it is intentional or merely an honest mistake. This includes paying below minimum wage, failing to pay overtime, violating meal and rest break requirements, and failing to pay for off-the-clock work. New Penalties for Wage Theft If an employee brings a successful wage claim against your company, the Labor Commissioner can now place a lien on the company’s property or levy on the business’ bank accounts and/or accounts receivable, including a lien or levy to recover the employee’s attorneys’ fees. SB 588 prevents a company from closing down its business and re-opening under a new name in order to avoid their debts to workers. Owners and anyone else acting “on behalf of” the employer are now individually liable for wage and hour violations. This means that the Labor Commissioner can now seize the personal property and bank accounts … Continue reading
Computer Fraud Prevention: How to Protect Your Company’s Information
In today’s business environment, companies live and die by the information and data you possess. Your company’s confidential information is probably housed on a network that is accessible by some, or all, of your employees. Are you doing enough to protect your company’s data from computer fraud leaving with an employee and winding up with a competitor? The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) The CFAA is a federal law that makes it illegal to “intentionally access a computer without authorization or exceed[ing] authorized access, and thereby obtain[ing] . . . information from any protected computer.” 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2). Although commonly used to prosecute criminal hackers, the CFA is valuable to employers for the following reasons: 1) the CFAA captures a broader range of conduct than does a traditional trade secrets claim (it doesn’t require a showing that the accessed information rises to the level of a trade secret); 2) the CFAA is one of the few independent causes of action an employer can use to pursue a federal cause of action relating to such theft; and 3) the CFAA … Continue reading