The Employer’s Advocate

On December 3, 2008, the Fourth District Appellate Court overturned a jury verdict awarding $195,000.00 in punitive damages to a former waitress, despite numerous meal and rest period violations by her former employer. This decision constitutes an important victory for California employers at [...]

The California Supreme Court has granted review of the Brinker case, in which a State Appellate Court had ruled, in part, that an employer need only provide its employees with the opportunity to take meal periods and rest periods in accordance with California law, not actually ensure that such breaks are taken.  Because of the [...]

Cedar Rapids, Iowa:  On June 26th and 27th, 2008, in a secret ballot election conducted by Region 18 of the National Labor Relations Board, employees of Clipper Turbine Works, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, voted overwhelmingly against union representation by nearly a three to one margin.  The National Labor Relations Board has certified the results of [...]

Generally, California Labor Code and applicable Wage Orders require employers to provide at least one, thirty-minute meal period to all employees who work at least five hours per day, with a ten-minute rest period provided in the middle of each four-hour work period.  California Labor Code § 226.7 requires an employer to pay an extra [...]

Vindicating the free speech rights of California employers, the United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, has overturned California laws that unlawfully interfered with every employer’s constitutionally protected right to engage in a free debate about the question of union representation under the National Labor Relations Act.  The Court reached its decision in the [...]

For employees who believe that their supervisors are alien life forms, there is now judicial confirmation that supervisors are not considered “persons” against whom liability may be imposed for acts of retaliation under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (Government Code § 12940(h)).  So says a majority of the California Supreme Court.  As employees attempt [...]

If the Democrats retake the White House, small employers should brace themselves for a union organizing onslaught arising from a law euphemistically entitled, The Employee Free Choice Act, or “EFCA” (former Senate Bill 1041).  If some version of this Act is passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, it will provide employees [...]

Arbitration is seen as a silver bullet - a judicial forum that is more sympathetic to business than a jury, and one that is presumably more cost-effective when compared to litigation.  In reality, arbitration is not necessarily the employer’s preferred alternative to litigation of a claim.
There are studies which claim that arbitration is advantageous to [...]

Even small employers can defeat the union and win an election, if they obtain professional assistance, act decisively and deliver a clear, convincing message to their employees.  However, winning an NLRB election is no small achievement.  Here are the Fundamentals, Part One:  A brief description of how the union secretly manipulates your employees to obtain [...]

Even in California a disabled employee may not sue his employer for disability discrimination when fired for his use of medical marijuana (marijuana allegedly used for medical purposes pursuant to a doctor’s written authorization - Ca.Prop. 215).  The employee, Gary Ross, suffered from chronic back pain as a result of injuries he sustained in the [...]