Employment Law Office of Frank Pray

“Me Too” Movement’s Impact on California Sexual Harassment Law

The “Me Too” Movement May Change the Way Sexual Harassment Investigations Are Conducted.

The “MeToo” Movement may cause a permanent shift in the way sexual harassment investigations and responses are investigated.  Juries, judges, and arbitrators may now have heightened expectations of what fulfills an employer’s duty to take immediate remedial action to end the harassment.  See CA Govt. C. Sec.…

Lessons from an Overbearing Arbitration Agreement

The Arbitration Agreement Shackled the Employee

Baxter complained to her Company that performance evaluation forms illegally coded for age, race, and gender. She also objected to the Company reneging on an extension of about 15 to 30 days on her FMLA leave. Within 2 hours of her protest of being required to return to work earlier than the agreed on leave, she received a call from a Human…

Pay Disclosure Prohibited Unless Voluntary

Pay Disclosure Is a Brake on Gender Pay Parity

California employers may not require pay disclosure during the job application process. The rationale for this prohibition is that pay disclosure by women during salary negotiations may very well anchor the new pay rate to a past practice of gender bias.

The first step by California to address the gender pay gap was the California 2015 Fair Pay Act.

Wage Claims Move Up the Contract Feeding Chain

Wage Claims in Building Contract Situations

Wage claims are ubiquitous in the private building industry.  This story is a fictional account of carpenter Jesus Martinez whose employer failed to pay his wages and has disappeared, leaving only a shell corporation. The year is 2018. The employer promised Jesus to just “hang in there” because the employer was anticipating an infusion of cash…

Customer Lists and Trade Secrets – California

Customer Lists are Not Proprietary Merely by Being Included in a Trade Secret Agreement.

The following is a completely hypothetical and fictional account presented to illustrate legal principles. The names of individuals and companies do not identify any real persons or businesses except by random coincidence.

Customer Lists: Trade Secrets or Trading Secrets?

With 20 years in the “in flight…

Workplace Bullies: Tactics and Countertactics.

Workplace Bullies at work use tactics like these:

1. Phony Performance Improvement Plans or “PIPS.”

Bully managers use these for set ups to harass you. The “plan” is not to improve your performance through training, resources, and availability for guidance, but to push you out the door. How can you recognize a phony PIP? The workplace bully will construct a performance plan that:

a) is vague,…

California Employment Trial Lawyer

California Employment Trial Lawyer May Lose But Is Not Defeated.

California employment trial lawyer Carney Shegerian has made a reputation as a top trial lawyer for the Plaintiff employee in the last 5 years.  His approach has been simple:  try every case worth trying.  When the case is good, don’t waste time negotiating a subpar settlement.  Mediation is out of the question when the result could…

Religious Freedom: Not Always A Piece of Cake.

Religious Freedom or Gender Bias?

We’ve all read about the baker or photographer who refuses services to the gay wedding couple.  In the clash of sincerely held beliefs of “right and wrong,” someone will get hurt.  One such case will pit religious freedom against gender bias during the 2017-18 term of the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Colorado baker refused to prepare a wedding cake for a gay couple…

Overtime – All in a Day’s Work – But Whose Day?

Overtime Calculation – Why the Definition of “Day” Matters

Overtime in California is day to day.   Premium pay is at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for each hour over eight, and double time for each over 12.  Overtime at double rate is also due on the seventh consecutive day of work.

But who defines a “day,” or a “week?”  Is it the classical calendar definition of Sunday through Saturday?  Or…

Video Negotiation Pointers for The Everyday Working Folks

https://vimeo.com/214518609

  You negotiate every day.  When you work together you agree on an end result.  You find a way to cooperate because you and the “other party” both want something the other has.  Basic right?  But knowing you must give to get is a fundamental required attitude in negotiation.

Good negotiation means being flexible not only in the outcome, but the process.  What does that…

High Profile California Whistleblower Case Lost – Are We “Dunn” Yet?

The Rise & Fall of Joe Dunn as Whistleblower

The average reader doesn’t subscribe to the Los Angeles Daily Journal, but many lawyers do.  We readers have been almost weekly updated on the saga of Joe Dunn v. State Bar of California.  Dunn alleged breach of a severance agreement, and a whistleblower claim.  He lost on both this last week.  [The story is found at Los Angeles Daily Journal, March…

Anti-SLAPP Motions: Turning the Other Cheek

Anti-SLAPP Motions Have Teeth.

The cheek slapped may be below the belt, and the force of that boot might propel your case right out the court room doors.  The kick in the butt is found in CCP Section 425.16.  The statute has been on the books since 1992.  Amendments and case law have added teeth and sharpened their edges.  

The boot that kicks these cases out has steel for five reasons:  the…

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Testifies

  Chief Justice Answerable to Arbitration Subpoena.

The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court  can be made to testify in deposition?  The answer is “yes,” for up to two hours.  The reason is that she knows what she said or did not say to the former Executive Director of the California State Bar, Joe Dunn.  That itself is important because it is relevant to whether Dunn lied to the State…

Gender Bias Work Solutions

Gender bias work solutions are generated at U.C. Hastings School of Law by a professor dedicating herself to work-life balance for all people.  The focus of her work is designing concrete practical interventions to shift work  behaviors towards gender equality. This video is not filled with abstractions.  Yes, it relies on some sophisticated sociological studies, but that data is critical to…

The New California Marijuana Law — A Guide for Employees

The New California Marijuana Law 2017

What does the legalization of recreational marijuana use mean for the employees of California? While the law legalizes the sale, distribution and use of marijuana, it also specifically allows employers to set their own policies regarding the use of marijuana at work. The California Supreme Court well before prop 64 held that even the medicinal use of…