Employment Law is Complex! Contact the Law Offices of Jules Miller in Orange County

employment law - jules miller attorney at law, orange county, caEMPLOYMENT LAW IS COMPLEX!
WHO WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE MAZE?

Whether you are an employer or employee, you have both rights and obligations under the numerous Employment Laws. If you don’t know what your obligations are, or if you ignore them, you usually can kiss your rights good-bye.

Even if you think you know what the law is, are you sure you know both sets of laws? There are Federal employment laws and California employment laws, and the two often conflict. For example, the same employee may be entitled to overtime under California laws but not under Federal laws. Let’s say her employer classifies her as “exempt” from overtime because she is a manager. Let's also say she is required to spend the majority of her working time doing non-management tasks, but her employer considers the management tasks she does as the more important. Federal law has a “primary duty” standard, so she is properly classified as exempt under Federal law and not entitled to overtime. California law has a “predominantly engaged in” standard, so she has been misclassified as exempt under California law, and she is entitled to overtime.


Law Offices of Jules Miller is available to conduct Employment Law investigations on your behalf and advise and represent you in all employment matters. Call us at (714) 550-1734 to find out your rights and obligations in the following employment areas:

Hiring: We will tell you which interview questions are permitted and which questions are unlawful; when a background investigation is lawful; if an applicant is entitled to some “accommodation” in the structure of the job, and whether a selection process provides a valid basis to sue.

Discrimination: You probably know it’s unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, and disability, but we can tell you what the many other “protected categories” are and whether an employment decision is lawful or unlawful discrimination. More importantly, we know what to do when employment discrimination has occurred or is alleged.

Harassment: Sexual harassment is unlawful, but so are many other types of harassment. In addition to conducting many on-site training programs for employers in Harassment Prevention, we can determine whether an employer has a hostile work environment, whether “this for that” harassment happened, and what to do about it.

Safety: OSHA cares about safety, and so do we. Most employers have Injury and Illness Prevention Programs, but some are legally insufficient and many are ignored. While we’re available to advise what to do after an injury occurs, a better use of our time is to establish a good safety program to reduce the chances of an injury in the first place.

Retaliation: The most overlooked employer activity that leads to litigation is retaliation. Even when there has been no discrimination or harassment, an employee who complains about that or about other perceived illegal employer actions has substantial rights to protection. We are familiar with and able to advise on anti-retaliation protection.

Military Rights: We are veteran-owned and dedicated to supporting those who protect America from foreign enemies. Employees who want leave to visit their spouses in the military, reservists who want time off to participate in training, and returning military members who say their employers cannot fire them except for cause are all protected by recently-enacted statutes. Some statutes are hard to understand, but we will interpret them.

Human Resources: The “Three Ps” that best avoid employment litigation are Policies and Procedures and Practices. We can review employee manuals for the proper policies, and we can audit procedures and practices to determine whether policies are followed.

Wage and Hour Issues: In addition to exempt/overtime issues, a large amount of litigation involves lunch periods and breaks. Employees are entitled to minimum 30-minute meal periods within the first five hours of work, during which time they are free to leave the premises, relieved of all duties, and not required to work in any way. Employers must clearly communicate that employees are allowed to take paid ten minute rest periods for every four hours or major fraction thereof worked. These requirements may seem simple, but proving how they were or were not met creates great confusion. We can determine whether an employer’s practices have complied with the law, or whether employees are entitled to one hour's pay for every day they have not received a proper meal or rest period, plus other penalties.

Terminations: California has an “at-will” employment statute, but there are so many exceptions to it that it usually doesn’t matter. Even when an employer has a lawful right to do a reduction-in-force during bad economic times, lawsuits frequently contend the employer illegally selected the wrong employees to RIF. Severance agreements are becoming very common, but those written without legal review of each one are dangerous (especially when the same agreement is used for employees in different protected categories). We are available to provide that advice.

CONTACT LAW OFFICES OF JULES MILLER FOR YOUR EMPLOYMENT LAW ISSUES.


Recent Employment Law Developments:

An employer is liable for failure to accommodate an employee’s physical disability on a single occasion even if the employer can show a pattern of many accommodations for the employee. A.M. v. Albertsons Click Here for Decision.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is emerging as an important statutory basis for retaliation lawsuits. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled two former in-house lawyers could sue their former employer for wrongful termination under SOX as long as they reasonably believed their former employer committed fraud, even if there were no actual fraud. Van Asdale v. International Game Tech Click Here for Decision.


Useful Employment Law Links:

California Labor Code

California Fair Employment and Housing Act