California Labor and Employment Law

Tip-Pooling – Can My Employer Take My Tips and How?

Some History

For better or worse, tipping has become an accepted part of American commerce. It is a practice that first emerged in the late 1800s. In 1917, the California legislature passed a law for the first time prohibiting employers from taking any portion of employees’ tips. However, the courts struck down the law as a violation (more…)

Popularity: 18%

An Ode to Whistleblowers and the Law: Part I

Wikipedia defines a “whistleblower” as a “person who publicly alleges concealed misconduct on the part of an organization or body of people, usually from within that same organization”. It takes a special person to be a whistleblower, to set aside their own self-interest in favor of what’s right, to stand alone (more…)

Popularity: 3%

2009 Federal Minimum Wage Increases to $7.25

On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage increased from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour. According to NPR’s “Your Gains, Losses in Minimum Wage Hike”, the roughly 5 million wage earners who make less than $7.25 an hour will see an immediate benefit, as likely will another approximately 10.5 million wage earners above them as employers raise their pay scales across the board.

Given the current recession/depression we are in, there is more than the usual level of controversy attending the increase. Conservative economists contend the wage increase will only deepen unemployment as employers respond by cutting (more…)

Popularity: 12%

I’m Baaaack (and with a Jury Verdict to report)

Sorry for the long hiatus, folks. But I do have an excuse: I was tied up doing a particularly grueling 3-week jury trial in federal court in Fresno, CA. I’m happy to say that the good guys won — a unanimous verdict on all counts: disability discrimination (mental disability) under the California Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA), failure to accommodate a disability, failure to engage in interactive process to find a reasonable accommodation, CFRA/FMLA medical leave interference, medical leave violation, medical leave retaliation, FEHA complaint retaliation, etc.

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Popularity: 3%