California Senate bill mandating 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave for small companies passes committee
A California Senate committee passed a new bill that would require smaller businesses to offer three months of job-protected maternity/paternity leave for child-parent bonding. While the state already mandates companies with at least 50 workers to provide 12 weeks of parental leave, Senate Bill 63, the New Parent Leave Act, would apply to companies with […]
Google accused of underpaying female employees
Following a government investigation into how Google pays its employees, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) alleges that Google systemically pays women less than men. The DOL is suing Google, a government contractor, to release compensation data to ensure that the company is adhering to equal opportunity laws. Google announced in April that they have […]
Strong Advocates answers anonymous questions about sexual harassment in the workplace
On this episode of Employee Rights, we look at some of the anonymous questions Strong Advocates received regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. https://www.strongadvocates.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/strong-ad-pod-may-31-2017.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download
San Francisco loses wrongful termination case
A former San Francisco Chief Trial Deputy, Joanne Hoeper, received a $2 million award in a wrongful termination lawsuit against her former employer, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Hoeper filed a lawsuit against Herrera when she was terminated in 2014, claiming Herrera retaliated against her for having led a possible fraud investigation in 2012. […]
Records show high rate of sexual misconduct by faculty at UC campuses
A release of public records revealed that over 113 cases of alleged sexual misconduct by employees occurred within the University of California (UC) system within the last three years. The San Jose Mercury News requested the records after several incidents of sexual misconduct by UC Berkeley professors and administration who avoided serious punishment came to […]
Unwanted hugging may be sexual harassment
According to the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals, excessive hugging may be determined to be sexual harassment. In February 2017, a three-judge panel overturned a 2014 case against Yolo County Sheriff Edward G. Prieto, who allegedly hugged a female officer over 100 times between 1998 and 2012. The lawsuit was filed by Victoria Zetwick, […]
Proposed class-action lawsuit dismissed when judge rules restaurant chain layoffs not in violation of WARN Act
A California judged dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against a restaurant chain filed by former workers who claimed that 3,000 employees were laid off without due warning. The proposed suit alleges that, during Catalina Restaurant Group’s restructuring in April 2015, the restaurant chain failed to provide proper notice of the mass layoff. Those affected were […]
Can your boss fire you for filing a workers’ compensation claim?
When an employee gets injured on the job, they may have to rely on workers’ compensation benefits to receive the medical attention, wages and time off work needed to heal. It is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for reporting a job injury or filing a workers’ compensation claim by terminating their […]
Proposed bill would change the way employers hire part-time and temporary workers
A new California Bill proposed to the state assembly would require businesses with over 10 employees to offer existing employees extra work hours before hiring additional staff, contractors, temporary workers or other part-time workers to take over those hours and job tasks. The bill was written by California assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher with the intent […]
Taxi company settles citation for employee misclassification and failing to provide workers’ compensation
A Santa Rosa, California, taxi company was held accountable for misclassifying its 30 drivers as independent contractors and refusing to provide them with worker’s compensation insurance coverage, is now settling its $522,300 citation. In October 2016, a Sonoma County Superior Court judge issued the A-C Transportation a Stop Order judgement for the company’s refusal to […]