Month: August 2016

Legal

Discrimination Retaliation: Legal Reasons #18

Sanjay Sabarwal

retaliationMany employers are not aware that while California is an “at will” state which means either party can leave employment, California has strict regulations against retaliation and discrimination.

Both federal and state law protect employees and applicants from employer retaliation for engaging in activity that is protected by anti-discrimination laws.

You cannot retaliate against employees for participating in activities to further the enforcement of employment discrimination laws.The retaliation prohibition is quite broad and includes retaliation against a person who objected to a practice that is legal but that the person reasonably believed to be illegal. Protection from retaliation is not limited to applicants and employees; it covers all individuals, including former employees.

An employee who thinks he/she was discriminated against has the right to bring up the matter with a supervisor, other persons in management or a government agency. Any retaliation for making a complaint is strictly illegal, whether the retaliation is obvious (such as discharging the complaining person) or subtle (such as denying a merit increase for being “uncooperative”).

Do not view a complaint as a sign of disloyalty. Take complaints seriously and investigate them objectively. Although some discrimination complaints are insincere and harassing, the majority are sincere complaints of perceived mistreatment.

Retaliation at work can sometimes take subtle forms. Make sure you train managers on the scope of whistleblower protections. Measures which may help prevent retaliation in the workplace include:

  • Educate employees, especially supervisors, on what constitutes retaliation and the company’s policy against it.
  • Watch out for the subtle signs of retaliation against an employee, such as ignoring, isolating or undermining the employee, or changing expectations relating to the employee’s performance.
  • Implement effective complaint procedures that prohibit retaliation.
  • Limit the sharing of information regarding employee complaints to those who have a legitimate business need to know the information. Let those employees know that any retaliatory conduct taken against the complaining employee is prohibited.
  • Gather, rely on and document objective facts when making hiring and other employment decisions.
  • Carefully review discipline and termination decisions that involve individuals who participated in a complaint of unlawful workplace conduct. Consult legal counsel if necessary.
Brownness

Moving Nostalgia

Sanjay Sabarwal

ulpjvg1cvfmnyrorhbtsAs I rummaged through my library, sorting which books to keep and which ones to donate (a majority of them), I couldn’t help feeling a bit nostalgic about the thousands of pages surrounding me. Each book meant something at some point, but it hit me now they just represented a past that was no longer there. I held on to books rather than passing that story on to someone else, for it to live in someone else’s imagination.

It hit me that I kept the book to look and feel smarter, that I had a library and that meant I was well read. It held up an image in my head which didn’t need to be there. Who was I trying to impress?  Don’t get me wrong,  I am holding on to some titles (mostly graphic novels and my collection of  South Asian authors) but still it was harder than I expected to let go of decades of reading material. Yet I knew I would never read them ago, and ultimately I could not justify being selfish any longer.

I’d rather share than hoard. Let others experience the same emotions I did rather than keep it locked away. Still, it’s not easy. A part of me wants to hold on to everything, but the reality is that it is time to part ways.

Brownness

What To Know When Terminating: Legal Reasons #17

Sanjay Sabarwal

downloadRecently I have helped several former employees who were laid off but were not given their final wages which included the hours they had worked just before being laid off, earned Paid Time Off, and commissions.  Many employers do not realize that waiting time penalties attach daily up to 30 days if wages are owed after the final pay.

If you terminate an employee or lay him/her off with no specific return date within the normal pay period, all wages and accrued vacation earned but unpaid are due and payable immediately. It is not acceptable to ask or require an employee to wait until the next regular payday for his/her final wages. You cannot withhold a final paycheck. It is illegal to withhold a final paycheck to induce the former employee to:

  • Return tools, uniforms, mobile devices, laptop computers, keys or any other items belonging to you.
  • Pay back money that he/she owes to you.
  • Turn in expense reimbursement forms.

Payment Due at Time of Discharge

The California Labor Code requires that employees receive all earned and unpaid wages at the time of termination from employment. If they do not, you can be assessed waiting time penalties. In Smith v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the California Supreme Court ruled that neither length of employment nor reason for termination changes this requirement.