A California Court of Appeals’ decision regarding a wrongful termination claim and disability discrimination has a warning for employers: Be cautious when you apply a termination policy to a newly disabled employee. You’d better be certain that you’ve done everything necessary to make reasonable accommodations for the…
When you think of “pregnancy discrimination,” you may think of those days, long ago, when companies actually forbid female employees from getting pregnant. Anyone who announced they were expecting (or started to show) was summarily dismissed from their position. Well, that’s not legal anymore but that doesn’t…
African Americans have long suffered from racial disparities in the workplace — not the least of which are dress codes and grooming expectations that were designed with non-blacks in mind. California (along with New York) was among the first states to take a stand against racially based…
Employers, if you have been using a forced arbitration clause as a condition of employment, you have some decisions to make. As of January 2020, California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51) takes the teeth out of most of those old employment provisions. Essentially, AB 51 prohibits employers…
Some people just seem to have it all together. They can easily plan a project at work from start to finish, are organized, efficient and self-directed. People with executive dysfunction can only dream of doing the same. Executive functioning issues can occur on their own or as…
If it surprises you that the #MeToo movement is already a decade old, you probably aren’t alone. The movement — which is designed both to allow victims to show solidarity and to provoke beneficial changes in the workplace — only developed some of its biggest momenta a…
Have you ever heard anyone express skepticism about the damage done by workplace sexual harassment? For decades, the idea of a lecherous boss chasing a harried secretary around a desk was played for laughs — as if a little sexual harassment was just part of being an…
Getting fired is disheartening, frightening and often humiliating. It can also be grossly unfair and possibly illegal, depending on the circumstances. How do you know whether you’re a victim of a wrongful termination? Even if you were let go along with others due to a corporate merger…
How do you know you’re an independent contractor and not an employee? (If your answer is, “Because my boss told me so,” you may want to keep reading.) The “gig economy” is very popular right now in America, partially because it allows people to work a schedule…
Speaking Spanish in public these days can expose you to some of the nastier elements of racism. Viral videos of Latinos being insulted, harassed and threatened because they were speaking in Spanish have been flooding the internet for awhile now. It probably surprises no one that up…
