Most California companies offer employees vacation time. Vacation time is considered an employment benefit and also a form of compensation. Specifically, under California law, if an employee has unused accrued vacation at the end of his/her employment, the employer must pay out the unused but accrued vacation in their final Read more…
Declaratory Relief is a legal procedure designed for those seeking “preventive justice.” Specifically, its purpose is to “set controversies at rest before they lead to repudiation of obligations, invasions of rights or commissions of wrongs.” It is a vehicle to allow a presumptive defendant or respondent take adjudicative action to Read more…
Employers accumulate and receive substantial volumes of documents as a result of their day-to-day business. The office manager or head of human resources compiles such documents as job postings, employment applications, résumés, reference checks, testing data, personnel files, wage and hour records, payroll records, and disciplinary files, as part of their Read more…
On October 2, 2015, Governor Brown signed urgency legislation (Assembly Bill [AB] 1506) that immediately amends California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) to address increasing civil litigation alleging technical violations of itemized wage statements (pay stubs) issued to employees. Existing law required an employer to provide Read more…
If a state agency issues, enforces, or attempts to enforce a rule without following the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it is required to for purposes of formulating that rule, the rule is called an “underground regulation.” State agencies are prohibited from enforcing underground regulations. What is a Regulation? A Read more…
A new law that goes into effect on the New Year (January 1, 2016) will require counsel to meet and confer before filing a demurrer to any pleading (i.e. complaint, cross-complaint, or answer). Specifically, at least 5 days before a responsive pleading is due, counsel will be required to meet Read more…
As families gather this holiday season, time will be spent reminiscing about the past. For others, time will be spent planning for the future. This is especially true for those nearing the age of retirement or even putting the last touches on a will, trust, or estate plan. An often Read more…
Under the American Rule of attorney fees in civil litigation, every party—even the party prevailing—must pay its own attorney’s fees. Unless specific authority granted by statute or contract allows the awarding of accrued attorney fees against the other party, each party in a lawsuit is responsible for paying its own Read more…
As the business world has turned increasingly tech-savvy, more and more employees—even run-of-the-mill support staff—are exposed to what businesses consider “confidential, proprietary, or trade secrets.” To protect the business, many employers have been advised by their attorneys to require employees to sign confidentiality agreements at the time of being hired Read more…
A temporary restraining order (TRO) is a form of extraordinary emergency relief granted by the court to preserve the status quo to the requesting party. The requesting party must show must show that denial will result in irreparable injury to the moving party before the matter can be heard on notice Read more…