California Drastically Expands Coverage for Employee Leave

California Governor Gavin Newson on Sept. 17 signed Senate Bill No. 1383, which scraps the current California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and eliminates the California New Parent Leave Act in favor of a new CFRA with expanded protections and coverage for employees. The newly minted CFRA, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, is a drastic expansion of...

View Post

Are There Limitations to At-Will Employment?

Most employees throughout the United States are more than likely considered to be employed at-will. That’s because an at-will employment doctrine is adopted in some form by 49 states, Montana being the exception. This makes it important to understand not just what at-will employment means, but what its limitations are. So, what is at-will employment? Most people tend to have...

View Post

SCOTUS Rules to Protect LGBTQ Workers from Job Discrimination

In a 6-3 decision on June 15 that came as a surprise to many, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that gay and transgender employees are protected against discrimination by existing federal law. Writing for the majority, Neil Gorsuch – President Donald Trump’s first appointee to the Court – stated that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act...

View Post

Can Sexual Harassment Happen While Working from Home?

For white-collar employees, the modern American work environment is a place that’s rapidly phasing between a central office location and working at home. The COVID-19 pandemic expedited this transition by forcing many employers to instate work-at-home arrangements for their employees to stay in business. There are many benefits to working at an office with your colleagues, but there are clearly...

View Post

How to Identify Wrongful Termination

Hardly anyone revels in getting fired or laid off from a job. If you were recently terminated from your job, you may be wondering right now if you were wrongfully terminated. Chances are you’ve heard this term before or may even know what it means. Wrongful termination squarely rests on termination that violates the law. Unfortunately, this bars situations where...

View Post

What Is Whistleblower Retaliation?

When public and private employers attempt to skirt the law for personal gain or company profit, there’s always the risk of wide and far-reaching consequences for the public at large. Such can be the case when a company dumps an illegal amount of waste into a nearby waterway, or a police department that fails reprimand officers for illegal conduct. When...

View Post

What Are California’s Overtime Laws?

If you’re an employee who’s working for a wage as a non-exempt employee, you are more than likely eligible for overtime pay. For many employees, earning overtime pay is a necessary requirement to make ends meet in their lives. Without it, bills can go unpaid and basic luxuries others readily take for granted must be relinquished. It goes without saying,...

View Post

What Does Discrimination at Work Look Like?

People often say they know what discrimination at work looks like even if they can’t exactly define it, but sometimes it’s not that simple. Just as with any other kind of discrimination, there are ways your rights could be violated in covert ways that not even you may readily recognize. Who Can Be Discriminated Against? If you’re trying to understand...

View Post

FAQ: The Families First Coronavirus Response Act

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus dubbed COVID-19 is as historical as the world’s reaction to it and the countermeasures implemented to combat its spread. The number of cases in California topped just over 1,000 by March 20, which may put the state’s sick leave laws to task as the number of cases continues to swell. In the midst of...

View Post

How Is Sexual Harassment Different From Sexual Assault?

Both sexual assault and sexual harassment are forms of abuse that should never be tolerated. It’s good to know that there are distinctions between the two types of abuse. Read on to learn how to distinguish between sexual harassment versus sexual assault. Sexual Harassment According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sexual harassment includes the following: Unwanted sexual advancesRequisitions...

View Post