Noted briefly: failure to post surety bond or delcataion of indigency constitutes a waiver of the right to appeal labor commissioner's award of wages. Williams v. FreedomCard, Inc. 2d App. Dist No. B162880.
10/29/2004
10/26/2004
Newsom Joins The Fray
Wow.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom threatened Monday to join hotel workers on their picket lines today unless hotel owners end a four-week lockout and allow employees to return to their jobs for a 90-day cooling-off period.The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
10/22/2004
Quick Fact: Elections & Employee Time to Vote
California Election Code sections 14000 and 14001 require that employees be given time off to vote if there is not sufficient time outside working hours. If so, they should be paid for the time, up to 2 hours.
And guess what? You have to put up a poster—surprise!—10 days before (That means tomorrow!) to let employees know this.
The polls are open from 7am - 8pm.
* But here's something that might be new: delays at the polls. There have been problems with these in the voting going on already in Florida and elsewhere. If that happens here, it is possible that employees will have to come and go more than once. Hopefully we'll avoid most of the major problems here in California.
And guess what? You have to put up a poster—surprise!—10 days before (That means tomorrow!) to let employees know this.
The polls are open from 7am - 8pm.
* But here's something that might be new: delays at the polls. There have been problems with these in the voting going on already in Florida and elsewhere. If that happens here, it is possible that employees will have to come and go more than once. Hopefully we'll avoid most of the major problems here in California.
10/20/2004
Smith v. Superior Court (L'Oreal USA, Inc.)
This is a good one. It's a clear rule that clarifies something that isn't facially obvious in the statute.
Individual hired for specific short term and for flat fee is not "discharged" within the meaning of Labor Code Sec. 201 when the specific term expires and is thus not entitled to be paid immediately" upon completion of the term nor to receive a "waiting time penalty" pursuant to Labor Code Sec. 203.Duly noted. Petition DENIED. 2nd Dist. No. B176918.
10/17/2004
Weintraub: End Employer-Based Health Care
Does Daniel Weintraub read CLEL? His editorial today says ...
Weintraub is writing this in the context of urging readers to vote no on Proposition 72, which would enmesh the practice of employer-based health care.
What's his suggested fix?
The biggest problem with our current system is that it injects a third party - the employer or its representative - between patients and doctors and between consumers and their insurance company.He claims that employer-based health care started as a way around wage-controls during World War II. [Is that really all there was to it?-CLEL]
Weintraub is writing this in the context of urging readers to vote no on Proposition 72, which would enmesh the practice of employer-based health care.
What's his suggested fix?
We can do this by taking a page from a policy that has proven successful in Switzerland: require every individual to have health insurance that covers at least catastrophic, or unpredictable, costs * * *People who are too poor to afford coverage would continue to get their care through government-subsidized or charity-based health clinics and hospitals. The working poor could get vouchers or refundable tax credits to help them transition to taking charge of their own health insurance purchases.You've got a lot more selling to do, Dan. How would costs be controlled by consumers when they have to have the insurance? Isn't that a seller's market? How would you foster competition--FTC action? CLEL agrees that employer-based healthcare should go away; it's especially onerous on small employers; but for the economy needs healthy workers. Wouldn't these vouchers end up having a secondary market? How do you have enough competition in the health care market with each provider having a big enough pool? Isn't it a natural monopoly or oligarchy? We need more answers.
10/15/2004
Happy Friday
The LA Times reports that ...
The national flu vaccine shortage has companies bracing for a surge in costlyLovely.
sick days and lost productivity.
10/14/2004
"Employment Laws Explore New Territory"
In this month's California Bar Journal, there is a pretty decent sized piece on employment law frontiers in California. (It does not appear to be online, at least for free).
I'm a little confused by this piece, because it talks about SB 796 and not the recent bill that just took a lot of the punch out of it. What's up with that? Also, is she implying that a bill can be retroactive without any indication, even implicit, that it is?
[CLEL notices that it is usually strikingly easy to tell when a piece is written by an employer side lawyer or an employee side lawyer, including the use of agit-prop. Is this the case in all branches of law? CLEL was a former bankruptcy jock-in-training, and doesn't remember the creditor/debtor divide being so obvious in prose like this.]
I'm a little confused by this piece, because it talks about SB 796 and not the recent bill that just took a lot of the punch out of it. What's up with that? Also, is she implying that a bill can be retroactive without any indication, even implicit, that it is?
While there is no indication that this law is deemed retroactive by the legislature, it will likely be a familiar sight in all new employee claims against violating [sic] employers.Why even mention retroactivity then? I'm not sure what the point of that is. She feigns an attempt at balance at the end with the very trendy "on the other hand" job. With those caveats, it's a good road-map to some of the new employment laws out there.
[CLEL notices that it is usually strikingly easy to tell when a piece is written by an employer side lawyer or an employee side lawyer, including the use of agit-prop. Is this the case in all branches of law? CLEL was a former bankruptcy jock-in-training, and doesn't remember the creditor/debtor divide being so obvious in prose like this.]
10/13/2004
Slow News Week Picks Up!
Finally! Some interesting news... (in my narrow band here, anyway--the world is full of interesting news right now)
The Fresno Bee reports that the new workers' comp law is putting the squeeze on chiropractors:
Jesse Jackson spoke to striking hotel workers in San Francisco yesterday, the Chronicle reports. Mayor Newsom asked for a cooling off period, where workers would return to work during negotiations. A federal mediator will be in later this week. The strike is about a rise in health care premiums to be paid by the workers.
The Fresno Bee reports that the new workers' comp law is putting the squeeze on chiropractors:
Statewide, chiropractors say new limits on visits and much-stricter guidelines for treatment have resulted in as much as a 70% cut in chiropractic treatment.A class action suit against Dennys restaurants can proceed, the Supreme Court ruled, according to California law, where vacation is earned wage. The Chronicle reports.
Denny's allows employees to start earning vacation time from their first day of work, but doesn't pay them for accrued time if they leave in less than a year for an hourly employee, or less than six months for a salaried employee. Gard said the policy violates California law, which considers an employer's vacation benefits to be the equivalent of wages that can't be forfeited.Yikes! CLEL would never have counseled them to do that. Dennys argued that their vacation plan was covered by ERISA.
Jesse Jackson spoke to striking hotel workers in San Francisco yesterday, the Chronicle reports. Mayor Newsom asked for a cooling off period, where workers would return to work during negotiations. A federal mediator will be in later this week. The strike is about a rise in health care premiums to be paid by the workers.
10/06/2004
Noted Briefly...
I've decided that I will note cases in passing even if I'm not going to summarize them. This still doesn't mean that I will list here every single case that comes down in this and all ancillary areas...
Carter v. CB Richard Ellis, Inc. - 4th Dist.
Carter v. CB Richard Ellis, Inc. - 4th Dist.
10/05/2004
Train Thyself! & Hotel Strike at a Stalemate
The Governor did not veto a bill (AB 1825) requiring sexual harassment training for supervisors in companies with more than 50 employees. It does not go into effect until 2006. [CLEL notes that anyone expecting a veto on this one only need look back to the recall campaign - does he really want to revive the groping meme? Plus, how many companies with 50 or more employees aren't already doing this? Apparently not enough for Gov. Schwarzenegger to think this is a "job killer."]
Back to the front ... in San Francisco, the hotel strike continues, as the SF Chronicle reports. You'll never guess what the sticking point is. . .
Back to the front ... in San Francisco, the hotel strike continues, as the SF Chronicle reports. You'll never guess what the sticking point is. . .
The hotels have asked for a five-year contract that would sharply increaseHealth insurance? I can't imagine that. CLEL doesn't have a solution for this, but recognizes one is needed!
workers' health insurance premiums. The union wants a two-year contract that would expire in 2006, which would synchronize its next round of negotiations with talks in other cities.