Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

Retail Workers Protest Job Layoffs, Salary Cuts in Los Angeles Area

March 8, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent newscast from ABC 7, a large retailer in the Los Angeles area is cutting hours, reducing hours, and laying off workers, and this is leading to large scale protests by company employees. The company is claiming that it has no choice, as it trying to survive and reemerge following a recent restructuring bankruptcy.

Things started with a strike/work stoppage this past week after several workers were fired for protesting what the company was doing. These workers are members of a major apparel worker’s union, and a spokesperson for that union says they are losing hours, jobs, and pay and can no longer afford to live and take care of their families, despite the fact that they are working as many hours as their employer will give them in what used to be a full-time job. Continue Reading ›

Female Restaurant Workers in LA Area Allege Sexual Harassment

March 6, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A little more than a year ago, employees at San Diego P.F. Chang’s location won a roughly $1 million verdict in a sexual harassment lawsuit. According to a recent news feature from the Los Angeles Times, the same defendant is alleged to have engaged in additional incidents of sexual harassment at various other Southern California locations.

This first case that ended in 2014 involved two plaintiffs. Now, there are four women claiming they were repeatedly made to be victims of sexual harassment in Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Riverside, and Chino Hills. Their contracts required employees to use a binding arbitration process as opposed to filing a complaint in a civil court. There is also another alleged victim, but her case is somewhat different, because she was only 16 years of age at the time of the alleged harassment. Continue Reading ›

Some Fear $15 Wage Minimums Will Drive Jobs Out of L.A.

March 3, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A recent opinion column in the Orange County Register takes an employer-favored look at how a $15 minimum wage could drive jobs out of California, even though there are nearby places like Orange County that are not subject to Los Angeles’ minimum wage law.

Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles are increasing their respective minimum wages, so they will be at $15 by the year 2021. The minimum wage for the county and city will gradually increase to this number, and, unless the state minimum wage is raised again, it will be $5 more per hour than what the state requires. It is always possible for a local jurisdiction such as a city or county to have a higher minimum wage than the state, but they cannot ever have a lower minimum wage, as that would be in violation of state law. Continue Reading ›

Restaurant Workers Fight for More Rights and Better Conditions

March 1, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A restaurant worker can make a pretty good living if he or she can find at job at the right location. However, as it turns out, most workers are having a tough time finding a sweet spot.

According to a recent news article from the New York Times, the vast majority of food service workers (millions) are still living in poverty, despite working for many hours a week. Further, they are often mistreated by their employers.

The owner of several popular restaurants in New York and in sporting event venues across the country is trying to do his part to change this, but the way he is going about it is to do away with tipping at his establishments. He says that every employee should be paid a decent wage, and this will help to fight what is known as income inequality. Continue Reading ›

Yahoo Faces More Employment Cuts

February 27, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Yahoo has been having trouble for a while now, and that is not much of a secret. We have already seen a major round of employee layoffs, and, according to a recent news article from the San Francisco Gate, the company is about to make another significant reduction in the number of employees. This current round of job cuts will mostly be in the magazine division of the company.

This latest round of job losses involves over 300 employees who are currently working at the company’s California location. The employees were told that their respective last days on the job would be April 18 of this year. Company officials say that cutting their workforce will reduce the overall operating budget, and if they are not able to do that, they will likely not be able to survive. Continue Reading ›

Report: Efforts to Protect LGBT Workers Are Failing

February 25, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

A recent news article from the International Business Times points out that smokers in Kentucky are protected under state law from employment discrimination, while members of the LGBT community do not have any such protection.

In the wake of the sweeping victory for proponents of gay marriage after the landmark decision from the United States Supreme Court, many were hoping to follow with growing public support for gay rights and end employment discrimination against the LGBT community across the county. Continue Reading ›

New Football Stadium Jobs Promise Might Not Be as Good as Advertised

February 21, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

There has been a lot of news coverage about the Rams moving to Los Angeles and about the new L.A. Rams Stadium. According to a recent news feature from the Los Angles Times, those in support of building the new stadium with taxpayer dollars said that the project would create nearly 10,500 full-time and part-time jobs. This number is not supposed to include the many construction jobs that will be created as the new stadium is being built.

However, some think that these promises of new jobs are not all they are cracked up to be. A recent lawsuit was filed against the company that has a contract to sell all concessions at Levi’s Stadium. Levi’s Stadium is located in Santa Clara and is the stadium where the Super Bowl was just held. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the many low-income workers who accuse their employer of regularly committing labor law violations and taking advantage of them. Continue Reading ›

California Job Market Predicted to Grow Over Next Two Years

February 17, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Over the past few years, we have seen a lot of job growth in California, including the greater Los Angeles area. A recent news article from the Los Angeles Times suggests that we will continue to experience significant job growth as the economy continues to improve, but that growth will be slower over 2016 and 2017 than it had been in the 2015.

The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation has just released its annual comprehensive report that predicts the 7 percent unemployment rate, which we have now, will fall by just over a point by next year. Continue Reading ›

California Wage Theft Alleged at Bay Area Elder Care Facilities

February 15, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

Authorities in charge of investigating wage theft tend to avoid making generalizations about an entire industry. However, state and federal investigators have recently spoken out forcefully against what they say is a serious and growing problem for California workers: wage theft and other employee abuses at elderly care facilities.

It’s an industry that tends to employ workers who are poor and often illegal. That means they are more likely to be extorted and abused.

Case-in-point: Florinda Yambao. The 63-year-old woman owned numerous residential nursing homes throughout Contra Costa County. Last year, she was convicted of tax fraud, insurance fraud and theft. She had defrauded workers of hundreds of thousands of dollars in pay and then, the court ruled, committed tax fraud in order to cover it all up. She was placed on probation and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to her victims. Continue Reading ›

California Farm Worker Rights Bill Demanded by Activists

February 13, 2016 | by Nassiri Law

In two of the most critical agricultural counties in California, farm workers banded together with other low-wage workers in the food industry, demanding a “Bill of Rights” that would ensure higher wages and improved treatment.

The workers characterized the bill as a “rule of law” for these workers, who work extremely long hours for little money and are at very high risk of injuries and abuse. The bill is primarily aimed at addressing the struggles of workers in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, just north of Los Angeles.

Most of these problems stem from the fact that nearly half of these workers are undocumented immigrants, which means they live in constant fear they will be reported and returned home, where they may face not just crushing poverty but constant danger. So when they suffer abuse at work, they are more likely to do so silently. Continue Reading ›