In California, the distinction between independent contractors and employees carries significant legal implications. How a worker is classified can impact tax obligations, legal rights and benefits. Understanding this distinction is vital for businesses to prevent...
As an employee, you are entitled to fair pay for your work. So, what happens when your employer overworks you and doesn’t pay your overtime? It’s a frustrating and often confusing situation, and thankfully, you and your co-workers don’t have to suffer in silence....
When you get hired on a new job, your boss tells you that the company has a policy where you don’t discuss wages. He or she asks you not to talk about how much you’re being paid with the other employees. They say it nicely and smile, but you can tell that they’re very...
There are numerous ways that businesses try to minimize what they pay for staffing. Oftentimes, they cap the wages they will offer for certain positions and even go so far as to limit how many people will be scheduled for specific shifts. Occasionally, companies go...
California’s Depart of Industrial Relations, which includes the Labor Commissioner’s office, is suffering from a major staffing problem, and the backlog of wage claims has climbed into the tens of thousands. Even though there’s a proposed budget that would allow the...
As an hourly worker, you should receive pay based on when you are present and performing work for your employer. Federal law entitles you to full compensation for the time that you work, as well as overtime wages in certain situations. Employers often resent how much...
Employment laws in the U.S. around family and medical leave – let alone paid leave – are far behind those of many industrialized countries. Here in California, our state laws are more employee-friendly than those in most other states. A couple of changes effective at...
The events of the last few years have wrought sea changes in the way that people live – and work. With many people taking a hard, long look at the way their work-life balance had become distinctly unbalanced over time, “quiet quitting” became a trend. Quiet quitting,...
The new year has brought in a number of new laws that benefit California employees. One that affects a wide swath of employees was authored by Santa Barbara State Sen. Monique Limon. Known as the “pay transparency” or “pay equity” law, it requires employers in the...
The profit incentive that drives modern businesses often pits workers against the companies that employ them. Businesses want to pay as little as possible for their labor, while workers obviously want to receive appropriate wages for the work that they perform....
