Effective January 1, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) now explicitly protects employees’ religious dress and grooming practices as covered religious beliefs and observances. Religious dress includes the wearing or carrying of religious clothing, head or face coverings, jewelry, artifacts and any other item that is part of Read more…
(The following blog post will also appear in PT Interventions, the semi-annual, members-only, newsletter of the California Physical Therapy Association.) As physical therapy professionals know by now, the Physical Therapy Board of California (“Board”) issued new regulations on medical recordkeeping and supervision of assistive personnel, which became effective July 14, Read more…
It is undeniable that social media – be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, what have you – is changing the way we manage our personal and professional relationships. An increasing area of concern over the past few years has been the detrimental effect that our online presence can have on Read more…
Assembly Bill 1396 went into effect on January 1. It compels employers who pay commissions to employees to enter into written commission contracts with the employees. The written contract must describe the method of computing the commission and how the employee will be paid. The employer must also provide a Read more…
The 2013 California’s Employer Guide (DE 44) is now available. It is full of useful information for new and existing employers. It provides answers to such basic questions as: Who is an employer? Who is an employee? What are state payroll taxes? What are wages subject to withholding? Furthermore, it 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…
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…
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…