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Thanks to Governor Jerry Brown, 2014 is going to be a good year for personal attendants and minimum wage workers, along with workers who need paid leave to take care of non-immediate family members, with new laws that will take effect in the new year. 1) Under a bill that Governor Brown signed into law…

Employers who employ illegal aliens often use threats to report them to the USCIS for deportation in response to being sued for unpaid wages or to force them to work for below minimum wages. Starting in 2014, such employers will face stiff civil and criminal penalties. 1) SB 666 provides that an employer’s business license…

As reported by the San Jose Mercury News on September 30, 2013: Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Wednesday a bill making California’s minimum wage the highest in the country — a needed step, he said, toward addressing the growing gap between rich and poor. “The social fabric is being ripped apart,” Brown told supporters…

The California Court of Appeal recently held this month in Alamo v. Practice Management Information that a wrongfully terminated employee must prove that illegal discrimination was a “substantial factor motivating” the termination of employment or other adverse employment action. This means that the defendant employer in such an action may use a “mixed-motive” defense by…

The recession has hit restaurant owners very hard. The last thing that anyone wants to do after losing their job is to eat out. Restaurants know this, and in order to survive, or at least continue making profits, a restaurant owner not only has to cut its food costs but also to cut its employee…

When an employer sponsors a foreign worker for permanent residence (PERM) or a work visa, like the H-1, L-1, E-1, E-2, or O-1 visa, it certifies under penalty of perjury to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Labor, and/or Secretary of State that it will pay the foreign worker a certain wage.…

Business is slow. Things are not working out. Or whatever other excuse you gave when firing your employee was not enough to prevent him or her from hiring a labor law attorney to sue you and your company for various labor law violations and maybe even for wrongful termination. Many of my employer clients complain…

Hours worked on holidays, Saturdays, and Sundays are treated like hours worked on any other day of the week. California law does not require that an employer provide its employees with paid holidays, that it close its business on any holiday, or that employees be given the day off for any particular holiday. If an…

With the U.S. Supreme Court recently striking down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act and overturning California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriages, countless numbers of same-sex couples have already gotten married and if not, are happily planning their future weddings. A significant number of those will likely want to file green card…

In Harris v. City of Santa Monica, the California Supreme Court recently held in February 2013 that when an employer proves that it had a non-discriminatory reason to terminate an employee, even if the employee proves that discrimination was a substantial factor in the termination, the employee cannot be awarded damages, backpay, or reinstatement. However,…