Workers in California are cheated out of an estimated $2 billion in stolen wages every year. Although California has some of the strongest employee protection laws in the nation, wage theft is unfortunately still pervasive in the state. Especially among low-wage and hourly workers. Many employees don’t even realize that their employers are stealing from them. And those who...
Continue ReadingAcross America, almost 30 million workers have signed non-compete agreements as a condition of their employment. The purpose of these agreements is to protect trade secrets, confidential customer information, or intellectual property from competitors. They do this typically by placing restrictions on when and where certain high-level or technically skilled employees can retain work. But in the past few...
Continue ReadingOn November 4, 2022, thousands of employees at Twitter were dismayed to log into their company email only to learn that their jobs had suddenly been eliminated. Just days after purchasing the popular social media company, billionaire and new CEO Elon Musk caused an uproar by initiating major layoffs that eliminated over half of Twitter’s workforce with little warning. ...
Continue ReadingCertain California workers can look forward to a pay bump in the coming year, thanks to new legislation recently approved by the governor. Out of hundreds of bills debated by lawmakers in the fall 2023 session, two initiatives to increase minimum wage pay for Californians in the healthcare and fast food industries were among those finally signed into law...
Continue ReadingBetween new COVID-19 variants, nationwide strikes in major industries, rolling layoffs, and the acceleration of generative AI-induced wonder (or panic) — the past year has brought a number of changes and challenges to workers across the U.S. While these events garnered headlines, though, New York workplaces saw some important changes closer to home in 2023. Over the past calendar...
Continue ReadingIt looked like a classic case of employer retaliation. A. was a bartender at Kolla’s nightclub in Orange County. In April 2014, after she hadn’t been paid for three shifts in a row, she approached the club’s owner to ask about her unpaid wages. In response, her boss flew into a rage. He fired A. on the spot, telling...
Continue ReadingMcKenzie was at home, washing baby bottles for her newborn, when she got the news that her position as a communications professional at Salesforce had been eliminated. She was shocked — although the company had announced in early 2023 that 10% of the workforce would be laid off, McKenzie thought that she’d be legally protected from termination by her maternity leave. She’s...
Continue ReadingAlthough women have been an important part of the U.S. workforce for decades, many employers unfortunately still have doubts about their capacity to serve as both professionals and mothers. The outdated, prejudicial beliefs that pregnant women and working moms are a liability, less committed to their jobs, or unable to perform at top levels professionally, pervades California workplaces —...
Continue ReadingIn this blog post, we’ll break down the details of SB 331, explaining what it says about when your employer can and can’t use legal methods to keep employees silent, and how an employment lawyer can help you if you’re facing pressure from an employer’s gag order. Settlement Agreements and SB 331: When Can My California Employer Limit What...
Continue ReadingEvery year, thousands of Californians are deprived of their legally entitled rights, benefits, and protections by employers who illegally classify their workers as temporary contractors instead of employees. In 2020, California passed a new law, known as AB 5, that took a bold stance against the epidemic of employee misclassification that runs rampant in the gig economy. However, due...
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