Simas & Associates, Ltd. is open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and Fridays, 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Special appointments for advice and consultation can be made after hours and on weekends. In November, Simas & Associates, Ltd.’s offices will be closed on the following dates in Read more…
It is important for all members in an animal health care team to understand and know their roles. Often a Registered Veterinary Technician (“RVT”) and an unregistered veterinary assistant’s (“assistant”) roles can overlap but a veterinarian or a RVT, may be subject to discipline by the Veterinary Medical Board (“VMB”) Read more…
Litigation is expensive and time-consuming. It often draws out disputes over a number of years. It has a tendency to lead to a litany of unintended consequences that leave all participants bitter in the end. As a result, it is unsurprising that alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) has proliferated as a Read more…
In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law. In almost every campaign speech since, the President has claimed that the act bestowed equal-pay rights for women. Specifically, he has said, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act “is a big step toward making sure every Read more…
Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 323, the California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (popularly known as RULLCA), into law on September 21, 2012. The law, which will take effect on January 1, 2014, will apply to all existing California limited liability companies (LLCs) as well as all foreign LLCs Read more…
Many employers define different classes of employment within their organization. These classes – full-time, part-time, exempt etc. – are used to determine benefits which are offered to different types of employment given their skills, tasks, responsibilities, and hours worked. For purposes of these distinctions, full-time employment warrants the most benefits Read more…
In 1990, Congress amended the ADEA by adding the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) to clarify the prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of age. OWBPA establishes specific requirements for a “knowing and voluntary” release of ADEA claims to guarantee that an employee has every opportunity to make an Read more…
The Los Angeles District Attorney is prosecuting a doctor for second degree murder in the deaths of three of her patients. Hsui-Ying “Lisa” Tseng, D.O. faces a total of 24 felony counts, including three second degree murder charges resulting from her alleged habitual practice of overprescribing drugs, often without the Read more…
Attorneys know all-too-well the potential destructive nature depositions can have on their clients. They take up a lot of time, interfering with many clients’ business and profession. If used in an employment law setting, they often time kill morale and lead to a significant loss in productivity. Litigant’s attorneys also Read more…
Berman Hearings are administrative hearings conducted by the California Labor Commissioner to determine the legitimacy and extent of an employee wage claim against an employer. The Berman Hearing was named after Howard Berman, the member of the California State Assembly who instituted it. It is designed to provide a speedy, informal, Read more…