You can be disciplined for submitting a timesheet late, or with errors. However, that discipline cannot impact your pay. Employers are not allowed to delay or dock your pay for a timesheet mishap. The discipline is limited to warning, suspending, or terminating you, and cannot be done in a discriminatory fashion. What can happen if …
A wage and hour settlement ends a claim for unpaid wages. 4 things to know about them are: you may be entitled to more than just your unpaid wages, class action settlements can take longer to disburse, you generally have to sign a release to get paid, and most of your settlement will be taxable. …
California’s salary transparency law requires many employers with 15 or more employees to include a pay range in their job postings. It also allows you to request a pay range for your own position. Employers have to provide state regulators with data about the pay they offer. If the law is violated, you can file …
In California, you may be entitled to protected job leave under state or federal law if stress impairs your ability to perform your job. This form of stress leave is generally unpaid. However, you may be entitled to paid leave under workers’ compensation or temporary disability benefits. If your employer takes an adverse employment action …
An alternative workweek schedule, or AWS, is a set workweek in California that requires you to work over 8 hours in a 24-hour period, but has fewer days in the workweek. You can decide to use an AWS by voting. If an AWS is adopted, it can impact your overtime pay. What is an alternative …
As employees, you have rights during a workplace/human resources investigation. These can be especially strong if you are a public employee or have a collective bargaining agreement. Regardless, your employer must follow company policies during the internal investigation, such as: providing you with notice and an opportunity to defend yourself, and access to all evidence …
Labor Unrest in 2023 — The Year of the Striking WorkerWatch this video on YouTube California is not a “right to work” state. Right to work states make it unlawful to require employees to join a union or pay union dues. Attempts to implement such legislation in California have failed. Therefore, private California employers may …
10 of the most important rights that you have under California employment law include: overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, anti-discrimination rights, protection from sexual harassment, family and medical leave (FMLA), minimum wages, protection from workplace retaliation, workplace safety, sick leave, and protection from wrongful termination. All of these protections apply if you are a …
Even though California is an at-will employment state, there are scenarios where it is unlawful for employers to terminate you. Nine common examples of wrongful termination in California are when you get fired for: a discriminatory reason, blowing the whistle on misconduct, filing a workers’ compensation claim, enduring a hostile work environment, demanding unpaid wages …
10 signs you may be in a hostile work environment are if you or others are being subjected to: verbal abuse such as extreme ridicule or sarcasm, derogatory language, bigoted language or slurs (particularly if you belong to a protected class) inappropriate humor displays of offensive objects or images physical attacks or threatening statements harassment …
If you are a non-exempt employee in California, you must receive overtime pay for exceeding certain thresholds of “hours worked.” Specifically, your employer owes you: Time-and-a-half pay when you work more than 8 hours in a workday or more than 40 hours in a workweek. Double-time pay when you work more than 12 hours in …
There is no state employment law in California that defines part-time work as being less than a certain number of hours. Instead, it is generally up to the employer to define what “part-time” means. The Labor Market Information Division of the California Employment Development Department has a non-legally binding definition of part-time work as fewer …
In order to file a lawsuit for workplace harassment in California, you have to do 3 things: inform your employer of the harassment, file a harassment complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), and obtain a “right to sue” letter from the CRD. Only after receiving this “right to sue” letter can you bring …
In California, exempt workers are those who are not protected by wage and hour laws. Non-exempt workers are protected by these laws, giving them rights to overtime pay, a minimum wage, and meal and rest breaks. California labor law determines whether a worker is exempt; not the employer. Here are 10 examples of exempt and …
The California statute of limitations for wrongful termination is two years for implied breach of contract- or public policy violations and three years for FEHA violations, WARN Act violations, or whistleblower retaliation. Certain federal wrongful termination laws use a lengthier statute of limitations. However, many laws require you to file an administrative complaint first, before …
California car salesmen classified as non-exempt employees are not entitled to an hourly wage. Most are paid on a commission basis or at a “piece rate,” though some also make an hourly wage in addition to commissioned earnings. Whether you get paid through commissions or on an hourly basis can alter your workplace rights. In …
In California, there are 4 primary types of harassment, each with its own legal definition: civil harassment, stalking, sexual harassment, and workplace harassment. In broad terms, each of these involves unwelcome conduct that is either severe or pervasive. Some conduct can fall into more than one type of harassment. Harassment can even amount to a …
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that a normal work shift is no more than 8 consecutive hours in a day, with each shift split by at least 8 hours of rest. A normal workweek is 5 such work days.1 However, this is not binding. OSHA does not penalize employers who demand more. …
Compensatory time off, or comp time, is when you receive paid time off rather than wages for extra hours worked. In California, all full-time non-exempt employees can receive comp time in lieu of overtime pay under state law. However, 4 conditions must be met: comp time is authorized by a collective bargaining agreement, the employment …
In California, if you report your income on a Form 1099, you are an independent contractor, while if you report it on a W-2 form, you are an employee. Payroll taxes are automatically withheld if you are a W-2 employee; meanwhile, if you are an independent contractor, you are responsible for paying them. If you …
A “protected class” refers to a group of people who share similar characteristics and are legally protected from being harassed or discriminated against because of those characteristics. The term often arises in employment discrimination cases where an employer unfairly treats an employee on the basis of, for example, the worker’s age, color or religion. The …
If you are a non-exempt employee in California, you are entitled to overtime pay (1.5 times your hourly rate of pay) or possibly even double-time pay for working extra hours. This chart illustrates overtime and double-time pay: Extra pay for non-exempt employees Work that triggers extra pay in California Time-and-a-half pay (“overtime pay”) more than …
An adverse employment action is a change in the terms and conditions of your job that puts you in a worse position. It includes anything from termination to something that reduces your benefits, lowers your rank or decreases your chances of a promotion. Trivial workplace slights do not suffice. You generally have to show that …
The difference between a layoff and a furlough in California is whether the employee still has a job. A furlough is temporary. It can be a cut in hours, reduced pay, or an unpaid leave of absence. A layoff is permanent. Workers are terminated, though for no fault of their own. They are entitled to …
In California, non-exempt employees may be entitled to “on-call” or “standby” pay for hours spent not working, but still under their employer’s control. State labor laws give you a right to compensation of at least the minimum wage for such “hours worked.” On-call hours also count when calculating your overtime pay. What is “on-call” time? …
