General Employment Law Archives

If It’s Not in Writing (and you have a copy), It Didn’t Happen

by clever | Jan 10, 2021 | General Employment Law

One of the first things I ask people who have experienced discrimination and retaliation at work is whether they ever complained about it to a supervisor or HR. Many times they have. They’ve called HR or the employee hotline. Unfortunately, hotline complaints somehow always disappear. My entire career as a lawyer, I’ve seen one hotline complaint. No one at the company can ever find them. No one in HR ever remembers a call about the complaint either. Even if there are co-workers who heard the complaint and say they’ll testify it happened, the co-workers can be hard to track down or don’t want to risk their jobs by testifying against the employer.

Sometimes people write down their complaints and hand them to HR. But they don’t keep a copy. I’ve never seen a single one of those complaints. Like hotline calls, they all somehow disappear. The only written complaints I have ever seen are the ones that people emailed to HR or their supervisors and kept a copy for themselves. Texting a complaint or faxing a complaint are also fine too. The main thing is to have proof that you sent the complaint.

People win trials and get fair settlements even when they don’t have any proof that they complained. But a person who has a written complaint that they saved and can prove that they gave to management or HR has a better shot at winning at trial or a getting a fair settlement. Most importantly, if management or HR knows you have a copy of the complaint, you have a much better chance that they will actually do something about it, and you can get the problem fixed without having to take legal action.

Are You Getting the Full Prevailing Wage?

by clever | Dec 12, 2020 | General Employment Law

California and federal companies that receive contracts for public works must pay their workers the prevailing wage. (Cal. Lab. Code § 1771). The prevailing wage is usually much higher than the rate companies pay their workers for non-government contract work. The prevailing wage is most commonly paid on construction related work. But many other kinds of government contract work such as tree-trimming, community projects, renovation, and other work may also be considered public works and require payment of the prevailing wage.

Unfortunately, many companies don’t pay the prevailing wage or the full prevailing wage when they’re supposed to. Workers often don’t know whether a job is subject to the prevailing wage. Or if they do know that they are working a prevailing wage job, they don’t know how much work they do should be paid at the prevailing wage rate. The prevailing wage rates are also hard to find and can be hard to understand, which makes them fertile ground for wage theft.

The California Department of Industrial Relations lists the prevailing wage rates for the state online at https://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/2019-2/PWD/index.htm. Workers should receive the “Total Hourly Rate” listed on the applicable table. If the employer has certain kinds of benefits programs the rate is less, but many employers don’t have benefit plans that qualify.

If you believe you should receive the prevailing wage and aren’t or you aren’t sure if you’re getting the full prevailing wage, you should contact an experienced labor and employment attorney to determine your rights. The Law Offices of G. Samuel Cleaver has litigated multiple prevailing wage cases and offers free initial consultations on prevailing wage issues.

Will Recording a Conversation Help My Case?

by clever | Nov 3, 2020 | General Employment Law

Smart phones have made it so much easier to record and secretly record conversations that many more people are doing it these days. At work, some people believe if they can record a conversation of their supervisor or others discriminating or retaliating against them that the recording will protect their job or will be strong evidence for a lawsuit. In some unusual, non-work situations, e.g. the outrageous remarks Donald Sterling made to his mistress V. Stiviano, secretly recorded conversations can cause extreme embarrassment and severe repercussions to the person who made them.

Secretly recorded conversations usually aren’t helpful for one important reason: Under California Penal Code section 632 recording a private conversation without the permission of all those involved is a crime. Section 632 also says an illegal recording can’t be used in a lawsuit. The harasser or discriminator might even sue the victim who made such a recording for invasion of privacy!

If you want evidence of illegal conduct, write it down. Keep a journal that lists the dates and time of what happened to you. Or better yet, look for evidence of the harassment or discrimination in the emails or other documents you receive. You can also complain in writing to a manager or use your employer’s complaint procedure if you think you can do so without suffering retaliation.

But unless the law changes, secretly recording a conversation may create more problems than it solves.

Should I Sign an Arbitration Agreement?

by clever | Oct 20, 2020 | General Employment Law

These days many employers require their employees to sign an arbitration agreement to get or keep their jobs. An arbitration agreement is a contract to skip going to court and have a private judge settle any lawsuit the employee brings. In other words, the employer is forcing the employee to give up his or her constitutional right to a jury trial as a condition of employment. Unbelievably, this is completely legal!

But it gets worse. Once the case goes to arbitration, the employer can stop the employee from ever getting to an arbitration hearing by refusing to pay the arbitrator. Of course, the employee can try to go back to court, but by then he or she will have wasted a year or two in arbitration and likely won’t get a trial date in Superior Court for another year.

The good news is that some employers are allowing employees to opt-out of arbitration agreements. Is this because those employers want to support and defend the constitution? No. If they wanted to do that they would forget about arbitration all together. Employers who do this want to strengthen their position to force employees to arbitrate. And it works. Recently the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case called Johnmohammadi v. Bloomingdale’s, which covers California, forced a Bloomingdale’s employee to arbitrate her claims because she had signed an arbitration agreement, which allowed her to opt-out of the agreement if she had wanted to. If she had chosen to opt-out of the agreement, she would have been able to take her claims to court, and she could have served as a representative for a whole class of employees and help them bring their claims as well. Instead, she was forced to bring only her claims in private arbitration.

So if your employer gives you the choice to sign an arbitration agreement, just say thanks, but no thanks and keep your right to a jury trial in a court.

Unpaid Internships

by clever | Sep 16, 2020 | General Employment Law

The tight job market of recent years has led to the development of an “intern economy” in which more and more workers feel they have no choice but to take an unpaid internship to gain work experience. Traditionally, internships were a way for college students to learn about a field and gain experience in it. More and more, however, the duties of many unpaid interns have come to mirror those of regular employees the main difference being that the so-called interns receive no pay or benefits. Several recent court cases have called this practice into question and, in at least one instance, found it illegal.

The U.S. Department of Labor uses a six factor test to determine whether interns are employees who are entitled to compensation. The test can be found at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm. In general, to be unpaid, the interns must receive training that is similar to what they would receive in a vocational school and the company that provides the training should receive no immediate benefit from the activities of the trainees.

Unpaid interns who should have been paid as employees may be able to recover unpaid regular wages and overtime as well as any applicable penalties. If you believe you have failed to receive compensation for an internship, contact the Law Offices of G. Samuel Cleaver by email or phone at 323-648-6676 for a free consultation.

Misuse of Comp Time

by clever | Sep 1, 2020 | General Employment Law

Under a comp time program, an employer gives an employee paid time off instead of paying overtime. However, California law provides substantial protections for employers who want to offer comp time instead of paying overtime: 1) the comp time must equal the overtime (e.g. if the employee was due to receive an hour’s pay at 1.5 times his or her regular rate, the employee should receive an hour and a half of comp time; 2) the employee must be scheduled to work at least 40 hours in a workweek; 3) the employer must pay the employee for all unused comp time when the employee leaves the company; 4) the employee must request in writing to receive comp time instead of overtime pay; and 5) the agreement between the employer and employee for the employee to receive comp time instead of overtime pay must be in writing.

If you think your employer has failed to properly pay you for comp time, you may want to speak to an attorney to discuss whether a recovery is possible. Contact the Law Offices of G. Samuel Cleaver by email or phone at 323-648-6676 for a free consultation.

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