Employee Access to Employment Files

/

Having Trouble With Access to Your Employment Records in California?

You have the right to inspect your employer’s personnel record under California law, as long as the inspecting relates to your performance or a grievance. When employees in California cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, or San Francisco, make a request to inspect their employment file, employers have three responsibilities:

 

  • The employer must keep a copy of the employee’s personnel records;
  • The employer must make those records available to the employee within a reasonable time; and
  • The employer must permit the employee to inspect those records without punishing or retaliating against the employee for doing so.

Former employees may also be entitled to inspect their employment file. While this is not as clear as the current employee rule, it is still a right that former employees are usually granted.

 

Call 800-568-8020 in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County or Sacramento

The California employment law attorneys of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik have significant experience in employment litigation in the areas of law that affect employee rights, such as union organization and activities, severance agreements, and employment contracts.
We focus on protecting employee rights in counties throughout the state, such as San Diego County, Orange County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County and San Francisco County.

 

Making a Freedom of Information Act Request in California Public Employment

State employees can also make a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Justice. Employees should send their requests directly to the Department of Justice. In the request, employees are allowed to identify the exact documents requested as well as the format in which those documents are to be produced. Although there are certain exemptions under which the Department of Justice does not have to produce documents, as long as the documents are limited to your employment records you should be able to obtain them using this method. At Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik, our California employment law attorneys can assist you with obtaining your employment records. Contact us for additional information.

Severance and Release Agreements

/

Don’t Sign Anything Until You Have Talked to Us

If you are leaving a company and have an option to sign an employment contract such as a severance or release agreement, we have strong advice: don’t do it without consulting a lawyer first. Businesses use severance agreements to protect themselves in a variety of ways. The truth is they really don’t care that much about protecting the rights or futures of their employees. Often, release contracts are loaded with illegal and one-sided provisions designed to restrict employees’ rights on the job market, while paying employees as little as possible to ensure business interests are protected. In fact, many of these agreements are in violation of wage-and-hour laws.

 

Free Consultation ▪ Extensive Experience ▪ Maximum Compensation

The attorneys of Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik in La Jolla, California, have been representing employees in class action litigation against their former employers since 1999. We have an excellent record of protecting our clients’ rights and financial interests in matters relating to severance packages, release agreements and employment contracts.

Talk to one of our experienced employment law attorneys before you sign. Contact us today. We can help you understand what is included in the employment contract you’re signing and how it will affect your future. With our vast knowledge of employment laws and labor laws, your matter will be handled professionally and with great care.

We will examine your agreement and explain:

 

  • Your capacity to seek work in your chosen profession
  • Your final severance payout
  • Tax consequences
  • Independent contractor status
  • Language about your performance on the job
  • Your independent use of trademarks, copyrights and intellectual property

Can You Be Part of a Class Action Lawsuit?

In many cases, companies that ask employees to sign and accept illegal severance packages and separation agreements are following illegal policies. If you are the first plaintiff to step forward and start a class action lawsuit against your employer, you may be eligible to receive other compensation in addition to a settlement or jury award.

Don’t sign an employment contract or accept anything without knowing how it will affect your long-term prospects. Contact us to discuss the severance package you’ve been offered. Our lawyers represent employees in class action lawsuits against employers in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco and Santa Clara, and throughout California.

Employees Should Know About the Economics Behind Hiring an Employment Lawyer in California

/

Employers throughout the state of Califoria continue to violate employee rights by committing violations relating to wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, overtime pay, working off the clock and employee benefits such as vacation pay. When an employer violates the law, employees usually start looking for an employment law attorney to help them recover from the company’s illegal practices. 

The thing that employees often most overlook is that the merits of the case are not the only important thing that employment law firms are looking into. Most employees search for a contingency, no win no fee employment law attorney in California. Contingency fee law firms take cases that are economically viable; if they did not, the labor law firm would likely be out of business. 

Therefore, the most important thing that the employment lawyers look into before deciding to take a case is how much the case is worth. After all, the labor lawyers don’t win a dollar unless the employee wins and they only win a percent of the employees total settlement or trial verdict. The more the case settles for, the more money the attorneys stand to make. 

Suppose you applied for a job that was goign to pay you $100,000 as a marketing director. You were up against one caucasion person for the job and the CEO of the company sent you an email stating, “Although you are highly qualified, we want to hire someone who is white.” This is clearly smoking gun evidence of discrimination, but this is just the start of what employment lawyers look into. 

The main inquiry is always, how has the employee been damaged. Based on the example above, suppose the employee was able to get another, higher paying job the next week. The attorneys would be skeptical to take the case even though it is a flawless discrimination claim because the damages are not that big. 

Suppose on the other hand that the employee can never get another job after this incident of discrimination in the workplace. Then, in this scenario, even though the merits are the same, contingency fee attorneys would likely be jumping all over this one as opposed to the first example because the damages are a lot greater. The employee could potentially win lost future wages for years. 

The point is that if employees want to find a good employment law firm, they should focus on how they have been damaged during the first free initial consultation rather than the merits of the case. Of course, the merits are ultimately the determinative factor, as a meritless case will not stand in court and the attorneys will not even file it if they discover it is meritless. However, by talking about the damages, employees can get the attention of the law firm. Once an employee has the law firm’s attentionl, he or she will have the opportunity to go over all of the merits of the case. 

 

Attention Grabbing Inquiry:

I was fired from a company with a lot of money and I think it was because of my race. I made $100,000/year and have not been able to get another job since I was fired. What are my options?

 

vs.

 

Likely not to get a response:

I was fired and I know it was discrimination because my boss told my supervisor that I had stolen from my coworker when in fact it was my coworker who stole from me.  I can prove that I was not the one who stole the item in question. I have all the documents to prove that I am being framed by my supervisor, who does not like me because she thinks I am trying to take over her position. 

 

 

Overtime Pay: Calculating Bonuses into the Regular Rate

/

Under California labor laws, if you are an hourly employee bonuses and other compensation must be included in your regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating your overtime rate. For example, suppose you are working as a property manager and as part of the job you receive a unit to live in that costs $900/month. The $900 must then be divided by 160 hours (4 weeks at 40 hours a week) and then must be added to your regular rate of pay BEFORE overtime is calculated. 

Under this example, $900 / 160 hours = $5 

Suppose you are paid $15 per hour of work. When the employer calculates your overtime rate of pay, the employer takes the $15 and multiplies it by 1.5x, which California overtime laws set as the overtime rate. Therefore, your overtime rate of pay is $22.5. However, this would be considered a violation of Californiaq labor laws in that the regular rate of pay should have included an additional $5 of pay.

Therefore, your hourly rate of pay should have been $15/hour + $5= $20 hourly rate of pay

The overtime rate should have been 1.5 times the regular rate of $20, which would be $30/hour vs. the $22.5/hour that the employer is paying you. 

This is $7.5 you are losing per hour of overtime you work. Suppose you work 20 hours a week, that would be an additional $150 for you to spend per week. Per year, that little mistake by your employer would cost you $150 a week times 52 weeks = $7,800 year. 

The statute of limitations in these types of overtime cases can extend back four years so your potential claim could be valued at $31,200 which does not include damages, such as waiting time penalties other penalties and interest. 

Finally, these types of cases are great for class action lawsuits because it is usually very systematic when employers fail to include bonuses in the regular rate of pay for purposes of calculating your overtime rate. 

Contact one of our employment law attorneys for more information about your legal rights. 

 

Brinker on Employment Law Breaks

/

On Thursday the California Supreme Court made a ruling in the much anticipated Brinker case. The case primarily involved labor law breaks at work in California.

The employees argued that the employer violated California labor laws by failing to make sure that the employees in fact took a 30 minute meal break. However, the court disagreed, ruling that all the employer is required to do under meal and rest break laws is make sure that the employees have the opportunity to take the break.

What is overtime in California

/

Many employees wonder, “what is overtime in California?” Under California labor laws companies are required to pay employees overtime for working more than 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Note that this is different than federal overtime laws which only require employers to pay employees additional compensation when they work more than 40 hours in a week. Under California wage & hour laws, employees are also supposed to be paid overtime when they work 7 consecutive workdays in the same workweek. 

Despite the fact that many employees wonder what is overtime in California, most employers are very familiar with the rules. In fact, companies often violate overtime laws because labor is the most expensive overhead cost for companies and cutting back on wages is the best way to alleviate some of this overhead. Even though they anticipate law suits for such practices, the lawsuits almost always settle for a fraction of what they would have otherwise been paying in actual overtime compensation.

                                                                                  

If you are wondering, “what is overtime in California” contact a California overtime lawyer. Most experienced employment lawyers work on a contingent fee basis. This simply means that that if they don’t win, you don’t pay. If they do win, they keep a percentage as payment. Furthermore, most overtime lawyers offer a free consultation. In this consultation (usually done over the phone) you have the opportunity to divulge your side of the story and see if you have a good case against your employer. There is virtually nothing to lose by simply contacting an overtime lawyer and discussing your situation for a few minutes.

So what is overtime in California? Some important things to remember are that if you are a non-exempt employee, you are entitled to overtime at one-and-a-half times your regular rate of pay for all hours worked past 8 in any workday. You are also entitled to double-time (twice your regular rate of pay) for all hours worked past 12 in a single workday. There are many other unique things that make California labor law favorable to the employee. Take the time to educate yourself and see if you possible are entitled to lost overtime wages.