A group of three women who work at the United Parcel Service’s Oakland hub have filed a federal lawsuit against the company. They claim that women employees are routinely relegated to dead-end jobs with lower pay and fewer opportunities for advancement. They are...
Employment Law
Worked through your breaks? You may be entitled to back overtime
If your boss has expected you to work without breaks or through your allotted lunch period, you could be entitled to back pay at the overtime premium rate. Recently, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that workers who miss meal or rest breaks are due “one...
What does California’s CROWN Act do?
It doesn’t make much sense to prohibit discrimination based on race if we still allow discrimination based on race-based characteristics. The CROWN (“Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair”) Act, which was passed in California in 2019, is an attempt to...
What does illegal workplace race discrimination actually look like?
Race discrimination by employers is prohibited by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is illegal for employers to discriminate in any aspect of employment, from the initial job advertisement and...
When your employer retaliates after you assert your rights
Under both California and federal anti-discrimination laws, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee who makes a discrimination or harassment complaint. For example, if you made a discrimination complaint or assisted with one, it would generally...
I’m paid a salary. Does that mean I’m not entitled to overtime?
No. Whether you are entitled to overtime depends on whether you are an exempt or nonexempt employee, not whether you are paid a salary. It is not true that salaried employees are always exempt from overtime and other Industrial Welfare Commission rules. In fact, most...
What actually constitutes harassment in the workplace?
When people think about harassment, it can seem hard to guess what is actually prohibited. Take sexual harassment, for example. Many people fear that asking a co-worker out on a date could constitute sexual harassment. But as long as you accept it if the answer is no,...
AAPI workers and all Asians are protected by state and federal law
In light of recent events and the uptick in anti-Asian bias due to the pandemic, you may wonder what protections the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and others of Asian descent really have. Both California and federal law protect AAPI individuals...
Is discrimination illegal based on any immutable characteristic?
No. It is not true that employers cannot discriminate against people because of any immutable characteristic. In California, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) lays out a limited number of characteristics that are protected by the law. Federal laws also apply,...
CA Supreme Court: 2018 independent contractor rule is retroactive
In California, it has been hard to tell who is legally considered an independent contractor vs. an employee. The distinction is significant. Independent contractors are not eligible for many workplace protections that employees take for granted, such as: Workers’...