misclassification

California Employment Rights Championed for Cheerleaders

August 12, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Professional cheerleaders are now recognized by California law as “employees,” entitled to minimum wages and overtime pay. It also provides them with sick leave, meal breaks and a host of other labor protections that are available to the team and other staffers.

Now, instead of classifying them as “independent contractors,” they are deemed “employees,” with all the rights and benefits that title affords.

The legislation that changed their status, AB202, was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown after being introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. She was motivated by a wage-and-hour lawsuit filed by the Oakland Raiderette cheerleaders. Gonzalez said short-changing women in any profession should not be tolerated, and cheerleaders were being treated as glorified volunteers. This was despite the long hours, extensive control the team had over almost every aspect of cheerleaders’ lives and the fines that were levied for minor infractions, such as gaining more than four pounds or forgetting to bring pom-poms to practice. Continue Reading ›

Hillary Clinton to Crack Down on Worker Misclassification

July 18, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

With an upcoming presidential election getting closer, all of the candidates are busy making campaign speeches and trying to garner support from likely voters. According to a recent news article from Huffington Post, Hillary Clinton has vowed that she will do whatever she can as president to crack down on the rampant misclassification of employees that is going on across this country.

One of the companies who may be most affected by this vow is Uber, the popular mobile ridesharing app and service which just suffered what many legal experts considered to be a devastating blow in a recent decision by the employment commission in California. In that decision, a commission determined Uber drivers are in fact employees for the purpose of labor rights and workers’ compensation benefits and not independent contractors, as the company would like everyone to believe. Continue Reading ›

California Labor Official Finds Uber Drivers are Employees

June 27, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

There has been a growing debate between Uber and its drivers at to whether they are employees or independent contractors. The company would like to have all drivers classified as independent contractors. This would mean they do not have to pay the workers any benefits, they do not have to pay overtime wages, they do not have to pay any portion of a worker’s federal employment tax, and they do not have to pay workers’ compensation if a driver is injured while driving for them.

In addition to having to pay less money, the company can also claim it is not liable if an Uber driver is held responsible for a car accident that results in personal injury. There is a long-standing provision in our legal system, which holds employers liable for negligent conduct committed by their employees in many situations. However, if the worker is an independent contractor, there is generally no liability on behalf of the company paying the at-fault contractor. Continue Reading ›

Report: Orange County Has More Jobs than Pre-Recession Era

June 21, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news feature from Orange County Register, the employment rate in Orange County has finally recovered from the Great Recession and is actually higher than it was in 2006.

The current number of jobs county officials have provided is 1,548,800. This number is nearly 3,000 more jobs than the county had in December of 2006, when employment reached its peak prior to falling off in the last major recession. Not only is the number of jobs in Orange County continuing to grow, there is a faster rate of growth in this county than the state and national averages. Specifically, in Orange County, we are currently experiencing a year over year growth in employment at 3.4 percent, as compared to the statewide average of three percent and the national average of just over two percent. Continue Reading ›

Employment Problems for Stagehands in California

June 18, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news feature from the Los Angeles Times, a 28-year-old stagehand is speaking out against the Beverley Hills-based concert promoter for whom he has worked. This company is one of the largest of its kind in the nation and handles concert promotion around the nation.

The employee interviewed for the article says this company “condemns” stagehands to poverty wages while also depriving them of healthcare and retirement benefits. He also says the day-to-day working conditions are unsafe and unhealthy. He claims the company provides virtually no safety training and doesn’t even provide workers with drinking water during their shifts.

One of the main reasons for this situation, he says, is because the concert promoter uses another company as a subcontractor to hire stagehands and technical assistance staff. This subcontractor hires its workers as independent contractors and, therefore, claims it doesn’t have to pay them benefits or adhere to many employment regulations since the workers are not employees. This particular company has only 12 employees at its various regional offices, yet contracts with hundreds of stagehands in each region. Continue Reading ›

Uber Drivers: Employees or Independent Contractors?

June 15, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

The economy is doing better than it has in years. One of the main benefits of a stronger economy is a lower rate of unemployment.

As it turns out, employment is up in California and across the nation. This will in turn drive the economy further, as people will have more disposable income to spend on consumer products.

However, this recent upturn in the local and national economy is somewhat different than previous periods of economic prosperity. One major difference has to with an increase in the type of employment we are seeing. In the past, greater production lead to more manufacturing jobs. When the economy shifted to outsourced production and services in the 1990s, we saw more sales and marketing jobs and other service-based forms of employment.

New Food Processing Jobs in California

May 30, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

California has a wide of industries that make the state a great place to live and work. There are farms and other agricultural jobs, technology centers, the television and movie industry in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, large law firms and international corporations, and a variety of other opportunities.

What many people may not realize that far more of the employment opportunities in California are directly or indirectly related to the state’s agricultural sector. According to a recent report from Record Net, food and beverage processing industry account not only tens of thousands of jobs, but for billions of dollars of value-added activity throughout the state.

For example, grape vineyard in the Napa Valley employs workers to grow and harvest the grape. During the growing process, supplies are shipped from other areas in the state. The grapes are then harvested and driven by truck drivers to an estate winery that will make and bottle wine. The wine is then sent to stores and restaurants in Southern California, which creates more jobs and raises the overall revenue for the state. Workers will then be able to purchase or rent a place to live, which in turn will create more jobs and revenue for the state. Continue Reading ›

California Unemployment Rate Down

May 26, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Despite the growing problems in low wage jobs across the state of California including wage theft, and employee misclassification, there has been an overall decrease in the unemployment rate throughout the state.

According to a recent article from the Modesto Bee, the current unemployment rate in California has fallen slightly to 6.3 percent. The recent economic upswing has created approximately 30,000 new jobs across the state. Continue Reading ›

Low-Wage Jobs in California Causing Major Problems

May 22, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Statistically speaking, California has a larger number or low wage jobs than many other cities and states across the country. Part of this is result of the large variety of employment opportunities throughout the state, and part of it is a long history of California’s employers taking advantage of the working poor.

According to a recent article from The Berkeley Blog, low-wage jobs may be California’s Achilles’ heel. A study referenced in the article showed that, in 2014, around one-third of all workers in the state of California earned less than $14 per hour. This equates to around 5 million workers, and most of them are adults working full-time to support their families. To make matters worse, they have an average annual income less than $16,000, and the vast majority of them does not have any health insurance, benefits, or receive overtime pay. Continue Reading ›

Disgruntled Workers Haul Thousands of Petitions for Wage Increase to L.A. City Hall

May 10, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

It is hard to turn on the local news these days without hearing about the struggle for low wage employees in California and their fight for fair wages. We have seen strikes by truck drivers, pleas from restaurant workers, and now, according to a recent article from the My News LA, protests are bringing carts full of petitions for a minimum wage increase into LA City Hall.

Protesters have amassed cartloads of petitions signed by about 100,000 supports demanding city officials to raise the city minimum wage to $15.25 per hour. The $15.25 amount comes from one proposal for a minimum wage increase currently being debated in the legislature. Supporters and union leaders say there are about 700,000 Los Angeles residents who currently earn less than $15 per hour and need city officials to back the proposal, enforce the current law, and allow them access to earned sick days of which many workers are currently being denied. They are calling for a law with “no loopholes” and stress that, without effective regulatory safeguards in place, any minimum is meaningless if employers can continue to get away with routine violations.

Currently, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has created a proposal to raise city minimum wage to $13.25 per hour, which is what city council members are now considering, along with another plan to raise city minimum wages to $15.25. Those who brought petitions to city hall support this higher amount. The $13.25 minimum wage, if passed, would go into effect by 2017, and the $15.25, if passed, would go into effect by 2019. There is also a provision in both plans to include cost of living increases for future years to keep each respective law current in light of inflation and changes in the economy. Continue Reading ›