Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog

California Gov. Expected to Sign New Equal Pay Legislation

September 28, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

As much as people like to believe there is equality in the workplace, equal pay for equal work is still much more an ideal than reality. While the gender gap is smaller than it once was, the fact is many women make less than male employees who would be in the same exact position. Even though this is illegal and in violation of California labor laws, some of the existing laws do not have strong enough penalties or enforcement mechanisms in place to end gender-based wage discrimination once and for all.

However, according to a recent news article from ABC, California Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign a new bill that will expand the already existing fair pay legislation that is on the books. The package of new laws includes additional protection for women from retaliation if they inquire about how much other employees are earning. This was often treated as almost a taboo practice where you do not ask what others are earning in the company because this could lead to anger among the workforce. However, the reality of the situation was that by not asking about how much other employees are making, the employer is getting away with paying a woman less money for doing the same job as a man. Continue Reading ›

Irvine Water District Employee Claims Workplace Discrimination and Harassment

September 26, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Times, an analyst working for the Irvine Water District is claiming workplace harassment and discrimination based up both her race and gender.

Employee filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court, alleging that her supervisor at the water district disrespected her on multiple occasions and threatened her like she was his “personal servant.” The Los Angeles Times attempted to reach the supervisor named in the lawsuit and a spokesperson for the water district, and both said they were unaware a lawsuit had been filed. Continue Reading ›

A Look at How a Hike in Minimum Wage Affects Workers

September 23, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

It should come as a surprise to nobody that anyone working for minimum wage in Los Angeles would likely welcome an increase in the city’s minimum wage or an increase in the state minimum wage to a rate above what the city currently mandates.

However, as one might also expect, many employers and business associations are against a hike in the local or statewide minimum wage rates, arguing that increasing the minimum wage would harm workers. While it is obvious they are more concerned about their own profitability that their employees’ well-being, according to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Times, some economists don’t know what effect a raise would have on workers. Continue Reading ›

Roscoe’s Chicken N’ Waffles Sued for Employment Discrimination – Jury Awards $1.6M

September 20, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Roscoe’s Chicken N’ Waffles is a more than just a restaurant. It has become an institution in the City of Los Angeles and is frequented by celebrities ranging from Larry King to Snoop Dogg, as well as droves of tourists who come to the establishment after reading about it in travel guidebooks.

However, to one former employee, it was a place of discrimination, according to a recent news article from CBS Los Angeles. The former employee is African American, and the famous soul food restaurant is an African American owned business, but plaintiff claimed the owners discriminated against him based upon his race. He claimed the owner give full authority to the Hispanic employees and allowed them to run the place, discriminating against the black workers. Continue Reading ›

Immigrant Workers in California Strawberry Farming Must be Protected

September 14, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

There are millions of immigrants arriving in the United States each year, and many of these people choose to come to California. There are many reasons one would pick California as a place to find work and make a home. There are many jobs here that immigrants can get if they want. While many think of the construction industry as a large source of employment, in California, agriculture offers a large number of employment opportunities. Another reason people choose to live in California is because the state has some of the more progressive laws to protect immigrants in the nation.

According to a recent news article from the Californian, strawberry farmers tend to hire a lot of immigrant workers to work on their farms. Strawberry crops must be planted by hand, looked after and weeded by hand. Once the crops are producing strawberries, the fruit must be picked by hand to prevent the fruit from being bruised and to keep the plant alive, so it can produce more strawberries. For this reason, farm machines like combine harvesters are not useful in the strawberry farming industry, so manual labor is needed more so than with other crops, such as corn, which can be harvested almost entirely by machines. Continue Reading ›

Report: Tech Jobs On the Rise in Los Angeles

September 12, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

When most people think of technology industry jobs in California, they are thinking of the Silicon Valley and other areas in the northern part of the state; however Los Angles and Southern California are the areas experiencing the most sector growth, according to a recent news article form CBS Los Angeles.

With the increase in tech and tech jobs in our area, many now consider Los Angeles to be leading the nation in terms of tech job employment and economic growth. Part of this is due to the influx of “behemoth” global technology companies into the city of Los Angeles and the Southern California area, along with the emergence of many tech start ups that have decided to make Los Angeles their home.

While many of these startups may ultimately not be successful, the ones that are will need to hire a lot of employees. Many of the most needed jobs are in web development, coding, and software engineering. This is a good fit for the area, with a large number of schools teaching these highly technical subject areas. Continue Reading ›

Employers Call California Assembly Bill 465 a “Job Killer”

September 9, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

There has been a lot of news lately about Assembly Bill 465 (AB 465). While employees and labor rights organizations are heralding the new law a major improvement in the rights of employees, employers are calling it a “job killer,” according to a recent article by the National Law Review.

AB 465 makes it illegal to force employees to sign mandatory employment arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. The mandatory employment arbitration agreements are supposed to be mutually beneficial and must consider an employee’s rights to due process under the law, but in reality they rarely do. Continue Reading ›

California Legislature Acts to Bar Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreements

September 7, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

According to a recent news article form the National Law Review, the California state legislature has just passed Assembly Bill 465 (AB 465), which prohibits the use of mandatory employment agreements by employers in the state. With the bill having passed, it is up to the governor to sign the law by the middle of October or challenge it

The new law would effect any employment arbitration agreements entered into, renewed, or revised after the first of next year. There is also a provision in the new law making it illegal for an employer to retaliate against or threaten any employee for refusing to sign an arbitration agreement. Continue Reading ›

Recent Change to California Employment Law

September 5, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

While some aspects of the law and legal doctrine date back more than 1,000 years ago, when empires were fighting each other in Western Europe, a good portion of our laws and our legal system are constantly evolving based upon the will of the people and the actions of legislative bodies.

For this reason, is it important to review all recent changes to the law from time-to-time. A news article from The National Law Review takes a look at recent changes to employment law in the state of California. One of the recent changes was that the word “alien” has been removed from the California Labor Code. Continue Reading ›

Court: Uber Drivers Are Employees in California

September 2, 2015 | by Nassiri Law

Most people living in Los Angeles are familiar with Uber and how the company and its competitors operate. When a person needs a ride, he or she can take out a smartphone, open the company app and request a driver to come to a given location.

Drivers working for the company own their own vehicles and have to pay for a company-owned smartphone that allows them to respond to requests for rides. If they accept a ride request, they must pick up the passenger and take him or her to the desired destination. There is no exchange of money, because the company debits the money from customer’s account and pays the driver after taking a percentage. There is no need to tip a driver, because that is supposedly covered in the company transaction. Continue Reading ›