California Employment Lawyers Blog

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has recently labeled the hospitality industry along with other low wage industries as "high-risk" in regard to the frequency of federal wage and hour law violations against vulnerable workers. As a result, the DOL has planned an initiative that will target these industries across the country, with DOL Wage and Hour Division audits and investigations.

According to the DOL Wage and Hour Division (WHD) fact sheet, in an audit, the division chooses certain types of low wage industries for investigations because of the high rates of violations, the employment of vulnerable workers, as well as the quick changes in the growth or decline of the businesses. The DOL reports that certain businesses are targeted for investigations in order to protect employee rights, by improving employer compliance with federal laws, like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), requiring proper overtime and minimum wage payment.

In a DOL Wage and Hour Division investigation:

• An employer's records are examined in order to determine the exact exemptions or laws that apply.
• The company's payroll and time records are examined, to make sure that the employer is not violating any wage and hour laws under the FLSA.
• Certain employees are interviewed, to verify the employer's payroll, examine the classification of employees, and ensure the legality of working minors.
• When the investigations are completed, the employer is reportedly informed on the extent of the employment violations, and instructed on how to implement corrective actions. If the employer has violated overtime or minimum wage laws, and back wages are owed to workers, the WHD investigator will ask that the correct amount of back wages are paid to the employees.

Continue reading "DOL Wage and Hour Division Audits for Low Wage Industry Violations" »

In recent news, Foster Farms, the poultry producer and reportedly one of the country's largest private employers, was sued by a former employee for pregnancy discrimination and wrongful termination. As our California employment attorneys reported in a previous blog, pregnancy discrimination is one of the fastest growing forms of discrimination in the workplace, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the lawsuit, Sara Supple a former full-time associate programmer analyst for manufacturing, claims that after going to the Human Resources department on May 5, to obtain benefit information for pregnancy within the company, she was told by officials in the HR office to come back at a later date, when her pregnancy had progressed.

Supple claims that a few hours after her meeting with the HR representative to discuss her pregnancy, she was brought back into the HR office, where the same representative from HR and her immediate manager confronted her about time card violations that she had no prior knowledge of. She was suspended from her job immediately until they investigated the issue further.

On May 11, Supple was brought back into work and told that her employment with Foster Farms was terminated based on the information that they revealed during the investigation. According to Supple, she never received a warning for any time card issues. She believes that after telling the HR representative that she was pregnant, she was accused of made up time card violations, and was subsequently never given the chance to defend herself against the allegations, as her employment was immediately terminated.

Continue reading " Foster Farms Sued for Pregnancy Discrimination and Wrongful Termination" »

In recent news that our Riverside, California Employment Attorneys have been following, a former employee is suing Walmart for wrongful termination, after he was fired for testing positive for marijuana--a drug he was using legally for medical use.

Joseph Casias, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), reportedly sued Walmart last week, for wrongful termination, after a mandatory drug test found marijuana in his system. According to the complaint, Walmart policy states that employees are tested for drugs when injured on the job, and after Casias injured his knee at work, he was required to take the test.

Casias, 29, was a five-year Walmart employee and recipient of the 2008 "associate of the year" award in the Battle Creek, Michigan store. He has reportedly been suffering from sinus cancer for 13 years, as well as an inoperable brain tumor that presses against his skull. After a law was passed in Michigan in 2008 approving the drug for medical use, his oncologist prescribed medical marijuana to Casias. In the complaint, Casias claims that marijuana has had a "life-changing positive effect," on him, and that he uses it to alleviate the excruciating pain that his tumor and cancer cause.

Casias has a legal prescription for medical marijuana from his doctor, and even has a state-sanctioned card stating that he can legally use the drug. He claims that he never worked at Walmart under the influence of medical marijuana, and also never asked for any accommodation from the company for his illness.

Continue reading "Walmart Employee Fired for Using Medical Marijuana Sues for Wrongful Termination" »

Our Anaheim-based employment lawyers at Howard Nassiri, PC are currently representing an individual contractor in a case against her former employer, Synergistic Resources, LLC, and Medical Marijuana Evaluation Centers (MMEC). The firm has filed a complaint for employee misclassification, wage and hour violations, wrongful termination, retaliation, unfair business practices, and other violations of California labor codes.

According to the complaint, in June of 2009, a California physician was hired as a "professional consultant" to work as an independent contractor for MMEC, a business that specializes in providing medical marijuana to patients, under the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, (Proposition 215)--the act that allows California residents to legally use and possess medical marijuana, as deemed appropriate by a physician who has determined that the patient's health would benefit from the prescription.

The physician claims that she was incorrectly hired as an "independent contractor" by MMEC to lower labor costs and maintain an unfair competitive advantage over its competitors, creating unlawful and fraudulent business practices. Our lawyers discussed the distinction between an "employee' and a "independent contractor" in a recent blog.

In the lawsuit, MMEC is being accused of creating a "sham" independent contractor relationship with the doctors they hire, by placing the operating expenses and risk responsibility on the doctors, while still exerting employer control by managing all aspects of the employment relationship--without offering the doctors any legal protection that employees have rights to under California law.

Continue reading "California Physician Sues Company for Employee Misclassification, Wrongful Termination and Retaliation" »

In a recent blog our employment attorneys at HOWARD | NASSIRI, PC discussed a recent $1 million employment lawsuit against action movie star Steven Seagal, for allegedly harassing and assaulting a former employee in a sexual way, as well as retaliation.

This week, two more former employees came forward claiming that they were also sexually harassed by Seagal, one of whom is Blair Robinson, the granddaughter of Ray Charles.

Robinson reportedly met Seagal in 2004 at her grandfather's funeral service. Seagal soon after hired Robinson to be his assistant, where she allegedly was told on the first day that is was required in her job description to give him massages. Robinson claimed that it quickly became clear that Seagal expected sexual favors as a part of her job responsibilities, an employment proposition Robinson was unwilling to accept.

According to TMZ, another woman also came forward claiming that Seagal made similar unwanted sexual advances toward her while she was employed by the film actor. She claimed that he touched her inappropriately by placing his hands on her breasts and down her pants. The former employee reportedly screamed and cried until Seagal released her.

Continue reading "Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Saga Continues for Action Star Seagal" »

In last week's blog, our Anaheim-based Employment and Labor Attorneys discussed sexual harassment in the workplace, and how sexual harassment is considered a form of discrimination according to California and Federal laws.

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is against the law to discriminate against a person based on sex, race, religion, color and national origin with hiring, firing, promotions, training, harassment, benefits, or wage discussions. Title VII also prohibits discrimination against an individual employee based on an association with another employee or individual of a specific sex, race, religion, color or national origin.

Title VII also makes it illegal to retaliate against an individual because the employee complained about discrimination, filed a discrimination charge, or engaged in an investigation or lawsuit involving discrimination. Under Title VII, employers are required by law to reasonably accommodate an employee or applicant's religious beliefs that are sincerely held, unless it would create or impose any undue hardship on the business operations of the employer.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing the federal laws that protect employees or job applicants from discrimination based on a person's race, religion, color, national origin, or sex, which includes pregnancy. Most employers with at least fifteen employees are covered by Title VII, as well as most labor unions and employment agencies. The EEOC may also step in and protect employees by investigating, mediating, and by filing lawsuits on behalf of the victims.

Continue reading "Sexual Harassment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964" »

As Los Angeles and Orange County Labor and Employment Attorneys, we have been following the recent news that video game makers Vince Zampella and Jason West are suing Activision Publishing, Inc. for breach of contract and wrongful termination.

West and Zampella are video game developers who produced the hugely successful Call of Duty, and Modern Warfare at the Encino, California-based company Infinity Ward, a studio they started in 2001. Activision reportedly bought Infinity Ward in 2003 for $5 million, and West and Zampella agreed to three-year employment contracts, as president and CEO.

After Infinity Ward's release of the hugely successful fourth game in the series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2008, Zampella and West reportedly extended their contract with Activision through 2011. The extension allegedly included additional royalties, other payments, and the right to control the company independently, with the right to creative control over any Call of Duty games that take place after the Vietnam War, or any Modern Warfare sequels.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, West and Zampella were wrongfully terminated on Monday, a few weeks before being paid significant royalty payments that were pary of their contracts for the game Modern Warfare 2, that was released in November and has generated retail sales of more than $1 billion.

Continue reading "Fired Game Makers Sue Activision for Breach of Contract" »

As Santa Ana Labor and Employment Attorneys, we have been following the recent announcement that Oldcastle SW Group, Inc., operating as United Companies of Mesa County, has settled a sex discrimination and retaliation lawsuit for nearly $500,000, that was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a former female employee.

According to the lawsuit, the female employee was hired in 1998 by Delta Sand and Gravel in Colorado (now part of Old Castle Group, and doing business as United Companies of Mesa County), to drive a truck, dispatch trucks, batch concrete, perform plant manager duties, and act as a quality control technician--the role in which she remained until she was allegedly wrongfully terminated.

The suit charges that the female worker spent a majority of her employment doing what is largely considered to be the "job of a man." The employee alleged that once she became a quality control technician, she started experiencing blatant sex-based discrimination, with workers and managers making harassing comments based on gender and engaging in sex based name-calling that interfered with her ability to perform her job duties.

Many of the employee's male co-workers reportedly witnessed the sex-based discrimination and offered to support her if she filed a complaint. After complaining to the management, and naming the male witnesses, the men confirmed her allegations, although admitted fear that they might be retaliated against for standing up for their female co-worker. According to the complaint filed by the EEOC, the men were subsequently subjected to serious retaliation, including name-calling, harassment, and threats to keep quiet. Over the course of the next seven months, the woman and two of the male employees who stood up for her rights were reportedly wrongfully terminated.

Continue reading "Gender-based Discrimination and Retaliation Lawsuit Settlement-- Gravel Company to Pay Nearly $500K" »

As California Employment Lawyers, we have been following the recent news of a California appellate court reversal of the $6.2 million verdict against the city of Los Angeles--from the lawsuit filed by black lesbian firefighter Brenda Lee, who claimed discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination in the workplace.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the 2nd District Court of Appeal made its decision today in Lee's case, where she sued the city of Los Angeles for alleged fire department discrimination. The lawsuit accused the fire department of discrimination based on gender, race, and sexual orientation and for failing to transfer her after she filed a harassment complaint.

Lee claimed in the lawsuit that her superiors put her through difficult fire department drills that neglected proper health and safety requirements, and subjected her to derogatory and inappropriate comments and actions.

The 2007 jury decision was reportedly the largest in a line of case settlements involving discrimination and retaliation against minorities and women within the fire department in Los Angeles. The cases have allegedly cost Los Angeles taxpayers more than $15 million since 2005.

Continue reading "California Court Overturns Female Firefighter's Racial, Gender Discrimination Case" »

Our Anaheim, California-based attorneys at HOWARD | NASSIRI, PC have been reading about the recent wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Dr. Ivor van Heerden, recent deputy director of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Center, where he is accusing LSU officials of retaliation, that led to his termination.

Dr. Igor van Heerden, a professor, disaster science specialist, author, and hurricane researcher, filed a whistleblower suit against the university and university officials last week, claiming that while he led the Louisiana team conducting a massive investigation into Hurricane Katrina, he suffered retaliation and harassment for years after making comments that criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' failure to keep the New Orleans safe.

After Hurricane Katrina, Dr. van Heerden spearheaded a major investigation examining the cause of the hurricane with the Louisiana State Forensic Data Gathering Team, called "Team Louisiana." Dr. van Heerden stated in his research that the levee design engineered by the Army Corps of Engineers proved to be a failure, and testified in front of Congress that this action was inexcusable, as the residents deserved to have proper levees that were secure. He also wrote many articles and published a best-selling book entitled "The Storm," where he attributed around 90 percent Katrina's flooding to the design failure of the levees.

According to the suit, University officials made attempts to quiet Dr. van Heerden from his public criticism and accused him of jeopardizing LSU's relationship with the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal government--risking LSU's posibilities for federal funding. Soon after the Team Louisiana report was released in April 2007, van Heerden requested as an expert witness on a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers and the federal government. Van Heerden asked for permission to testify, and was later told that his employment would be terminated if he proceeded to testify against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Continue reading "LSU Professor and Hurricane Katrina Expert Files Retaliation and Wrongful Termination Lawsuit" »

In a blog from last week, our Anaheim-based Employment Attorneys discussed the topic of pregnancy discrimination--after the settlement of a case involving a female security guard who was allegedly subjected to unlawful pregnancy discrimination, termination and retaliation in the workplace.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) was passed by Congress in 1978, as an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to protect pregnant women in the workplace from any aspect of discrimination when it comes to hiring, firing, pay, equal opportunity for job assignments, promotions, layoffs, fringe benefits, health insurance, or any other term or condition of employment.

Under Federal law, pregnant women, or women who have conditions related to pregnancy must receive the same fair treatment as other employees. Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, medical conditions related to pregnancy, or childbirth constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII.

According to the EEOC, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act:

• It is illegal for an employer to choose not to hire a woman who is pregnant due to her pregnancy or condition related to pregnancy, or based on any prejudice from co-workers, customers, or potential clients.

• An employer cannot determine the work capability of an employee based on conditions related to pregnancy. An employer does have rights, however, to request doctor's statements before giving sick leave, or sick benefits to an employee who is unable to work.

• Female employees who are unable to work temporarily due to pregnancy or conditions related to pregnancy must be treated in the same manner as other employees who are disabled temporarily.

• Employers must permit pregnant employees to do their job, for as long as the employees are capable of performing their job.

Continue reading "EEOC Facts about Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace" »

As Southern California Employment Attorneys, we have been following the recent settlement of an employment lawsuit--where U.S. Security Associates will pay $79,880 for subjecting a female security guard to pregnancy discrimination, wrongful termination, and retaliation.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Margaret Gibson was an employee at the Marietta, Georgia facility, working for U.S. Security as a security guard. After informing her manager that she was pregnant, she was allegedly mistreated, subjected to discipline that was unwarranted, and made to endure sexist comments about the manager's bias against pregnancy in the workplace, as well as sexist comments about how Gibson would look in the security guard uniform. After completing and turning in her application for maternity leave, Gibson's employment was terminated on the same day. The EEOC claimed that her husband, who was also employed with U.S. Security, was also terminated, after he failed to stop his wife from filing a pregnancy discrimination complaint.

Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) that amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, pregnant women or women who are affected by conditions that are related to pregnancy must be treated like other employees or applicants with the same abilities in the workplace. Discrimination of the basis of pregnancy, medical conditions related to pregnancy, or childbirth constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII.

Continue reading "Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit Settled--U.S. Security Associates to Pay $80,000" »

As Anaheim-based Labor and Employment Lawyers, we have been following the recent California discrimination case brought against Giumarra Vineyards Corporation, where the company is being accused of sexually harassing a young female farm worker, creating a hostile work environment, and retaliation.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, and claimed that the teenage worker was forced to endure sexual comments and verbal harassment, as well as inappropriate sexual touching by a non-management Giumarra worker on a daily basis. After witnessing the sexual harassment, a group other farm workers stood by the victim and filed a complaint with Giumarra Vineyards, reportedly one of the largest table grape growers in the country.

According to the lawsuit, one day after reporting the harassment, the teenager and the class of farm workers were all fired in retaliation. All of the identified victims in the case are indigenous Indians from Mexico--a reported minority in the Mexican community of farm workers.

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is against the law to harass employees based on gender, and illegal to retaliate against a worker who files a complaint about discrimination in the workplace. The EEOC states that when workers complain to supervisors about harassment in the workplace, it is the responsibility of the employer to take action and end the unlawful discrimination. The commission also stated that cases involving the sexual harassment of teenage victims are taken seriously, as are aggressive acts of retaliation against workers who stand up for their rights, and the rights of their colleagues in the workplace.

Continue reading "California Vineyard Accused of Teenage Sexual Harassment " »

In recent employment and labor law news, that our Anaheim, California attorneys have been following, a prominent Tufts University chemistry professor and co-investigator for the high profile NASA 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander mission, is being sued by a former research assistant for the NASA science team--for alleged sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

Suzanne Young, a former Tufts University researcher and lecturer took part in the Tufts University group that helped build and create experiments for the NASA mission--to study the chemical composition soil on Mars and investigate whether life is possible on the planet. Kounaves and his team created and designed a wet chemistry lab on the Phoenix Mars Langer to analyze the soil for life. NASA experiments were led by the University of Arizona, and the headquarters were located in Tuscon.

Young's sexual harassment lawsuit claims that Samuel Kounaves, an associate professor at Tufts and one of the co-investigators of the mission from 2003 until 2009, subjected her to repeated incidents of improper behavior that was disturbing and sexually charged, where Kounaves made consistent requests for sexual favors. Kounaves allegedly told her that her job security and employment advancement in the future would depend upon her sexual consent.

Kounaves also reportedly insisted that Young stay with him on business trips in 2007, and threatened not to pay her lodging reimbursement when she refused the accommodations--even though he would allegedly pay for male colleagues to have separate lodging. Kounaves reportedly only agreed to pay for her accommodations after she reported this to other NASA colleagues.

Continue reading "NASA Scientist Hit with Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination Lawsuit" »

In a recent blog, our Southern California Labor and Employment Lawyers discussed a study released by UCLA last year that surveyed over 4,000 low-wages workers in 2008 throughout Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, examining financial discrimination and systematic violations of employment and labor laws in low-wage industries.

A new report was released last week that is part of the same study, and focuses specifically on Los Angeles County, the home of the largest population of undocumented workers in this country. The authors describe this study as a significant effort to focus on the largely immigrant workforce that is often missed in regular surveys.

The study, entitled "Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles," released by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, surveyed 1,815 workers in Los Angeles County in 2008, all in low-wage professions, where the average worker's salary was $8 per hour. The study focused on domestic workers, garment workers, service industry employees, and construction workers, and found that compared to Chicago or New York, low-wage workers in Los Angeles County were the most likely to experience some form of pay-related violation in the workplace.

The survey also found that low wage workers are often robbed of their legal rights, by being forced to work during their breaks and off the clock, subjected to a lack of payroll documentation, stealing of tips, late pay, retaliation by employers, and being forced to work with employment-sustained injuries. According to the report, in almost every case, the rates of violation are higher in Los Angeles than the rates shown in Chicago or New York.

Continue reading "New Study Reveals More Abuse of Low-wage Workers in Los Angeles" »