Companies constantly want to categorize workers as independent contractors rather than employees. However, recent rulings concerning Uber and other decisions have made clear that this is a dangerous game. The problem is that the law focuses on subjective tests that leave employers without definitive answers. This was again the case in the recent case of Garcia v. Seacon Logix, Inc.
Garcia involved four truck drivers suing their employer for reimbursement of paycheck deductions claiming they were incorrectly classified as independent contractors.…
President Obama has proposed signing an executive order that would convert 5 million workers – 420,000 in California alone – from exempt employees to hourly employees entitled to overtime, meal breaks, and rest breaks. The executive order would raise the salary threshold under which employers designate workers as “exempt” from overtime and breaks from $23,660/year to approximately $50,440/year. The salary threshold for exempt status current stands at only $23,660/year.
The President—and many labor groups—claim that the current salary threshold for exempt…
California’s passage of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 implemented new law that required employers to provide employees working over 30 days to start accruing paid sick leave starting July 1st, 2015. Simple as it seems, this new law left employers and employees with several questions.
The California Legislature responded last week when it issued “clean up” legislation to clarify some of the confusion. Here is what you need to know:
To qualify for sick pay, the employee must work…
You run a large, successful company with various divisions operating in several cities across the nation. One of your employees sues you and you agree to settle. In the settlement agreement, you agree that you will not hire the employee at facilities that your company owns or may contract with in the future. Even under a private agreement, this may not be legal.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held in Golden v. California Emergency…
Sam Sherman was recently asked by San Diego News 6 to comment on the current allegations against Mayor Bob Filner. Click here to watch this interview. To learn about Mr. Sherman’s employment practice, view his profile.
By: Sam G. Sherman, Esq.
Many California employers have rounding policies that alter employee time entries to the nearest tenth (or other increment) of an hour. There is no California statute authorizing this practice and the court's have never specifically endorsed the legality of the practice.
The Plaintiff in Silva v. See' Candies Shop, Inc., sued See's Candies for various wage and hour violations and asked the court to rule before trial that See's Candie's rounding policy was…
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By: Sam G. Sherman, Esq.
California has the third highest worker's compensation rates in the United States, according to the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS). The DCBS publishes a biannual report of worker's compensation rates across the country. California employers pay $2.92 per $100 of payroll. The median rate across all 50 states is $1.88. You can find a summary fo the DCBS' report here.
By: Sam G. Sherman
As many Desperate Housewive's fans know, Edie Williams (Nicollette Sheridan) suffered a tragic death by eletrocution at the end of season 5. Sheridan quickly filed suit claiming that Touchstone Television and Marc Sherry (the show's creator) wrongfully terminated her after she complained about Sherry allegedly hitting her during filming of an episode. Sheridan was receiving $175,000 episode at the time Touchstone decided not to renew her contract.
After a mistrial, the case went to the…