Blog

THE BOUNDARIES OF HOLIDAY OFFICE GATHERINGS

With sexual harassment scandals currently crowding the daily news cycle, the potential for a holiday office party to become a morale-crushing, litigation nightmare is greater today than ever. There is nothing wrong with annually celebrating company accomplishments and work well done. Yet, management must ensure such parties serve to acknowledge teamwork and build morale, not to spin out-of-control into a regrettable “harassment fest” or worse.

HOLIDAY PARTY SURVIVAL 101

If an office seeks to pull off an in-person 2020 year-ending holiday gathering party (survival celebration?), pandemic social distancing is but the newest element in the planning and execution. Mana...

CAUTIONARY TALES EPISODE 6

The California Labor CommissionercitedOakland construction contractor, Attic Pros, and its owner for misclassifying 119 workers as independent contractors. The Commissioner ordered the company to pay more than $3.5 million, including unpaid minimum wages andovertime,liquidated damages,waiting time penalties, andcivil penaltiesfor violations during a 32-month period.

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2018 OVERTIME EXEMPTION RATE PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS

CaliforniaLabor Code section 515.6exempts certain licensed physicians and surgeons from overtime compensation as long as they receive set minimum hourly rates of pay. TheCalifornia Department of Industrial Relations (DIR)is increasing this minimum, effective January 1, 2018.

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2018 COMPUTER SOFTWARE PROFESSIONAL RATES

California Labor Code section 515.5exempts certain computer software professionals from overtime compensation who receive specified minimum compensation. California’sDepartment of Industrial Relations(DIR) hasannounced its rate increasefor this minimum, effective January 1, 2018.

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2018 CALIFORNIA ADOPTS BAN THE BOX LAW

Following San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities and states across the country, California has added a provision to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) banning employers from asking applicants for criminal convictions before a conditional offer of employment has been made. See,San Francisco Employers Must Give Former Convicts a Fighting Chance(August, 2014);Ban the Box in the City of Los Angeles(January 2017).

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2018 SALARY HISTORY

Effective January 1, 2018,new Labor Code section 432.3will prohibit all California employers from relying on salary history information as a factor in offering an applicant employment or in what salary to offer.

CAUTIONARY TALES EPISODE 5

Nor-Cal Venture Group, Inc., the owner of 26 Jack in the Box franchises in California, is one of the recent targets of theLabor Commissioner’s public campaign for employers to heed this state’s wage and hour laws. The commissioner’sDivision of Labor Standards Enforcement(DLSE) hasdirected Nor-Cal to pay $903,084for failing to pay 40 restaurant managers daily and weekly overtime, rejecting the employer’s claim that these workers met the tests as exempt executives or administrators.

CAUTIONARY TALES EPISODE 4

TheCalifornia Labor Commissionercontinues to promote her department’s aggressive pursuit of employers who do not comply with wage and hour laws. In August, shetargeted a Chula Vista restaurant, Dorantes, Inc., doing business as La Querencia, for back pay to six workers totaling $164,688, plus another $110,150 in penalties.