Legal News Articles

Nurses Allege Violations of California Labor Laws

Bellflower, CA On the list of violations of California labor law, failure to pay employees has to be high. After all, pay is one of the main reasons - if not the only reason - most people go to work. And pay - regular pay, not even overtime pay - is a basic right of employees under California state labor laws and federal labor laws. So when employees are not paid for their work, or when their pay is unreasonably delayed, many turn to a California labor lawsuit to get the money owed to them.

May 20, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

California Labor Lawsuit Filed against Trucking Company

Los Angeles, CA California labor lawsuits, alleging California employers violate federal and California state labor law, often involve employees claiming they were misclassified so the employer can avoid paying overtime wages. One way that an employer can violate California labor law is to misclassify employees as contractors, which is what one lawsuit against a California trucking company alleges has happened.

May 17, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

Breastfeeding Discrimination at California Hospital

Modesto, CA Of all the places to discriminate against breastfeeding, and therefore be in violation of the California labor law, the neo-natal ward of a hospital is the last place you would think of. Cellenia, a young mother and security guard at the hospital, is looking into the possibility of filing a California labor lawsuit against her employer for not providing a facility to express her milk.

May 13, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

California State Labor Comish Fights On against Labor Law Violations

Sacramento, CA There is little doubt that when it comes to California labor law the State’s Labor Commissioner doesn’t pull any punches. “In 2012, my Public Works team assessed $25 million in wages and civil penalties, the highest amount in a decade,” said Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su. “We are going to make sure that those who break the law pay and those who comply with prevailing wage laws know that the State is on their side.”

May 6, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

Fired for Pregnancy against California Labor Law

Yuba City, CA Andrea was an exemplary employee at the gas station and she had no doubt that her employer would comply with the California labor law when Andrea told him about her pregnancy. “He promised I would get my job back after maternity leave, but instead I got lied to,” she says. And in doing so, her employer violated the California labor code.

Andrea’s employer would be wise to offer her job back and terminate his nephew (Andrea’s replacement) instead. Pregnancy discrimination is a violation of the Family Act Law, which clearly states that women who take maternity leave must be reinstated under the same conditions as employees returning from disability leave.

All states do not have the same rules and regulations, however. Fortunately for Andrea there are even stricter regulations in the state of California. For instance, The Pregnancy Disability Act (PDA) sates that “Any employer that’s subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (i.e., has 15 or more employees) must comply with the PDA.” That would likely mean that Andrea’s employer would not need to comply. But California’s provisions on pregnancy disability leave stipulate that the employer is subject to the PDA with as few as five employees. In addition, the leave is capped at four months.

As well, pregnancy disability leave comes in addition to leave taken under the California Family Rights Act (covering employers with 50 or more employees). So, an employee covered by both laws could feasibly take four months of pregnancy disability leave and then 12 weeks of family leave to care for a new child.

Back to Andrea. She started working as a cashier for Mohammed Khan at Pacific Petroleum Market in July 2011. (Incidentally, her employer is not unfamiliar with California law: he was charged with selling alcohol to minors at the gas station). Andrea worked hard: in addition to her cashier job, she cleaned the store, washrooms, everywhere. “I pretty much did everything and I was good with the customers,” she adds.

“I found out that I was pregnant at the end of August and I told Mr Khan right away. He told me to let him know when I decide to go on maternity leave, but I went out on March 31, 2012, just three weeks before my due date. Everything went well and I was secure in the fact that I had a job to come back to - it isn’t easy to get jobs here.”

Andrea called her boss when her son was six weeks old (by California law she has up to eight weeks to return to work). “He told me that he had hired his nephew to replace me until college started; it was just for the summer, and to call him back in August,” Andrea explains. “I was able to collect another six weeks for mother-child bonding from disability and that covered me.

“I called him back in August. ‘You promised my job back,’ I said. ‘Well my nephew is my family and he comes first,’ he replied. He told me that he would be opening a dollar store and I should drop by and talk to him, which I did. Instead, he told me that he wasn’t opening the store and said, ‘You’re a good worker and you should be able to find a job.’ Maybe he thought it was some sick joke, making me walk one and a half miles to the gas station to tell me there was no work for me. Why make me wait three months? I don’t know why he did this. I also have a six-year-old and I had child care set up for both children. He knew as much.”

Andrea adds that her employer is currently under investigation for not letting his former employees get unemployment insurance. Clearly, Andrea’s employer should also be under investigation with the California Labor Board for pregnancy discrimination.

April 29, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

California Labor Law: High-Tech Firms Allegedly Violated Antitrust Laws

San Jose, CA A California labor lawsuit filed against high-tech companies in California recently suffered a setback, but claims against the firms may still proceed. The California labor law complaint alleged various companies committed collusion to keep employee wages down and ensure the companies kept their best engineers. The alleged activity, ultimately shut down by the government a few years ago, resulted in lawsuits being filed in California against the companies reportedly involved.

April 26, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

Business Owner Jailed for California Labor Law Violation

San Bernardino, CA The owner of an enterprise located in Hesperia is facing charges under California labor law for not carrying the required workers’ compensation insurance for his employees. If convicted, Najib Mohammad Samara faces a year in jail and a fine not less than $10,000. According to the San Bernardino Sun (4/2/13), the man was arrested at his business and held in San Bernardino County Jail in Victorville in lieu of $25,000 bail.

April 22, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

Will Latest California Labor Law Citation Finally End Sweatshops?

Los Angeles, CA It’s almost a stretch of the imagination that today there are still employees in the US - mainly workers employed in the garment industry - who are being paid by the archaic practice of piecework. One garment company may have woken to the 21st century after it got slapped with citations for violating California state labor laws.

April 18, 2013

CALIFORNIA OVERTIME

Dental Assistant Denied Breaks Led to Downward Spiral - Now Filing California Labor Lawsuit

Santa Rosa, CA Gina, a registered dental assistant, was happy with her job at the Small Care Dental Clinic. She had lots of help and always took two breaks and lunch, as mandated by the California labor code. But a corporation bought the company and - not surprisingly - put profits over people. There was no time for breaks. Gina eventually filed a California labor law complaint.

April 13, 2013

CALIFORNIA LABOR LAW

The Road to Justice Under California Labor Law

Fresno, CA When a private construction project intersects with a public entity such as a highway or public thoroughfare, there are rules and statutes under the auspices of California labor law that govern workers and how much they are paid. In other words, if a public road is revised with private, rather than public funding, such a funding model cannot be used to circumvent rules of labor, as one general contractor and a number of subcontractors recently discovered.

April 1, 2013