Category Archives: Employment
Employment Law Update – How up to date are you?
By Daniel Richardson Is your employee handbook up to date? An up to date employee handbook is important because it outlines for the employee the employer’s policies and procedures as well as establishing the expected standards. Using an employee handbook from the outset of the employment relationship to establish expected standards can be invaluable […]
Unclassy Action
By Andrew Jacobson The class action lawsuit that engineers brought against seven of the biggest Silicon Valley companies has been tentatively settled for about $324 million. Divided equally among the 64,000 class members after paying attorneys’ fees, each engineer would get about $3,500 – about one paycheck per engineer, hardly the mother lode some were […]
Shallow Pockets
By Andrew Jacobson The first question plaintiff lawyers ask when a new lawsuit comes their way is “where are the deep pockets?” Suing the villain is fine, but winning only gets a piece of paper called a judgment. You need to sue and beat someone with money to pay for a judgment – deep pockets. […]
Earned Income Tax Credit Notice
California employers, take note: you are required to give notice to all your employees about the earned income tax credit at about the time you give them their W-2 or 1099 forms. If you have individuals who are independent contractors, give them notice as well. Here is the recommended language, which you can print on […]
California Creates New Corporate Structures Enabling For-Profit Corporations To Consider the Public Benefit
Sharon Adams Introduction In January 2012, California created two new state corporate structures: (1) flexible purpose corporations, and (2) benefit corporations. Unlike traditional for-profit corporations, these new corporate structures are required to provide for benefit to the public. Unlike traditional non-profit corporations, these new corporate entities are not tax […]
New I-9 Form
The USCIS has introduced a new I-9 form that will have to be used for new employees. While use is currently voluntary, it will be required from May onward. No need to panic, however — it does not have to be used for current employees, only those who are new, or return to the company after being […]
A Wait at the Gate
For all those employers (all none of you) ready to race ahead and give notices to employees about health insurance exchanges, you are going to have to hold off for awhile. Despite the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) requirement that employers provide written notice (1) informing the employee of the existence of an Exchange, including a […]
Sins of Wages
Both employers and employees need to review their wage statements for the new year, because California has amended Labor Code 226 to identify nine types of information that has to be on each wage statement: (1) gross wages earned, (2) total hours worked by the employee, except for any employee whose compensation is solely based on […]
Time to Get Commission Agreements in Writing
We’ve said it before, about the need to get things in writing, but now getting commission schedules in writing will be the law here in California starting next year: “By January 1, 2013, whenever an employer enters into a contract of employment with an employee for services to be rendered within this state and the contemplated […]
Unemployment Benefits: The Greased Pig
Sometimes being an employer is like being in a greased pig contest: you just can’t get your arms around it. An employee does something that amply justifies firing him. He admits what he did, but seeks and (eventually) is awarded unemployment, thereby costing the employer’s account. What gives? A recent court decision, Robles v. EDD […]
