Employment Law Articles

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What Happens if You Fail an Unemployment Audit?

In you fail an unemployment audit, the commission adds a 15% penalty to the tax. If you fail to defend yourself the EDD will impose a significant fine against you and your company.

EDD Unemployment Fraud Penalties

Unemployment Insurance (UI) fraud is a misdemeanor punishable by law and violators may be sentenced up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. If the unemployment insurance fraud convictionis a felony, it's punishable by 16 months, 2 or 3 years in a California state prison, and a fine up to $20,000.

How Do I Appeal a Labor Commissioner Decision In California?

The appeal must be filed within 15 days from the date on the certification of service by mail (or 20 days if the ODA was served to an address out of state).

What Does Employee Onboarding Mean in HR?

In human resources, onboarding is defined as the processes in which new hires are integrated into the organization. It includes activities such as integrating a new employee onto payroll, sexual harassment training, company policy, etc.

What are Formal and Informal Communication in Business?

Formal communication is communicating of official information about the business or workplace. Examples of formal communication are reports, business letters, purchase orders, while informal communication are often telephone or in person conversations.

Employee Relationship Management

Employee relations refers to the relationship between or among an employer and its employees. Employee relationship management refers to managing the relation between the various employees in an organization.

Who Are Millennials

Any person born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 27 to 42 in 2023) is considered a Millennial, and anyone born after 1997 are considered Generation Z.

What Triggers an EDD Audit?

Employee registry, employee benefits, and independent contractor filing for unemployment benefits can trigger an EDD audit. Typically an independent contractor filing for unemployment will trigger an EDD audit because an independent contractor is not eligible for unemployment benefits, so the worker’s claim triggers the EDD audit to look into the worker's misclassification as an independent contractor.

Hostile Work Environment

A hostile work environment occurs when the harassment is so severe and pervasive that it causes an employee emotion distress, and negatively affect the worker's job performance. The behavior must be objectively abusive and not merely offensive.

EDD Audits California

The EDD often audits a company if a worker a company classified as an independent contractor applies for unemployment benefits. The EDD audit aims to find inconsistencies and determine if the employer has fully paid the owed payroll taxes under California law.

California On Call Pay

Yes, employees must be paid at their regular straight-time rate of pay for the period the employee is on standby for work.

Reimbursing employee expenses

Under California employment law, employers must reimburse employees for all necessary business expenses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer.

California Independent Contractor Payment Laws

Labor Code section 226.8 prohibits the willful misclassification of employees as independent contractors. An independent contractor is a person or business who provides a specific service to another company in exchange for compensation.

Disparate Impact vs. Disparate Treatment: What are the differences?

Discriminatory employment practices include disparate treatment and disparate impact. Disparate treatment refers to intentional employment practices that discriminate. Disparate impact refers to unintentional employment practices that discriminate.

Do Employers Verify Doctor’s Notes?

An employer has the right to verify that a doctor’s note was issued by contacting the doctor. The employee’s direct supervisor may not contact the doctor’s office to verify.  

California Paid Sick Law

Under California’s Healthy Workplace Families Act, employers shall allow and provide employees to use three days or a minimum of 24 hours for paid sick leave. An employee accrues one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Doctor’s Note for Work

A doctor’s note is a letter from a healthcare provider that provides simple information about an employee’s illness, medical condition, or injury. An employer may require a doctor’s note for an employee to return to work or for medical leave.

What is a Loli?

Loli means a young girl, underage girl, or childlike female character, particularly in the lolicon genre. The term loli is often used in connection with males attracted to young girls that leans towards erotic characteristic. The loli subculture has its origin in Japanese anime and manga.

What Is Considered Full-Time in California For Health Insurance?

Under the Affordable Care Act, full time hours is 30 or more hours per week or at least 130 hours a month.

Is it legal to work six days in a row?

Under Labor Code 551, all California employees are entitled to one rest day out of seven days. Under Labor Code 552, it is a misdemeanor for employers to require employees to work more than six days out of seven days.

Constructive Discharge in California

In California, the legal doctrine of constructive termination – also called constructive discharge or constructive dismissal – holds an employer accountable for creating or permitting intolerable conditions for an employee that the employee feels no choice but to resign from the job.

Sexual Harassment Statute of Limitations California

The statute of limitation in California for sexual harassment is three years from the date of the last sexual harassment incident.

Examples of Unfair Labor Practices by Management

What is an unfair labor practice by management? Examples of unfair labor practices management include: denying benefits and promotion, retaliatory discharge, launching strike unrelated to working condition, etc.

Toxic Work Environment

A toxic work environment can cause emotional distress even after employee clocks out of work. This stress includes sickness, low morale, and fear of going to work.

FEHA Statute of Limitations

Under FEHA, the statute of limitation for an employee to file a complaint is three years from the date of the wrongful conduct or discovery of the wrongful conduct – whichever is later.

Two Week Letter Notice

A 2 week notice letter is an employee’s letter of resignation to the employer. Although two week notice is not required by law, it is an accepted formality.

Paternity Leave California

California's Paid Family Leave (PFL) program provides partial wage replacement for up to six weeks to bond with a new child.

Random Drug Testing California Law

Under California law, random drug test for employees is prohibited with exceptions. Generally, employees have a constitutional right to privacy which includes the right against random drug tests. The exception to no random drug test is limited to protect public safety concerns.

Settlements for Wrongful Termination

Wrongful termination settlement range from $10,000 to $1,000,000. There is no “average” settlement for wrongful termination. The settlement amount depends on many factors, such as wage lost wage, lost benefits, and the reason for the termination. 

How To Deal With Unfair Treatment At Work

All employees expect to be treated fairly by their employers and supervisors. When an employer treats an employee unfairly at work, it may be discrimination involving illegal discrimination and harassment based on protected characteristics such as disability, age,t gender, national origin, ethnicity, age, or race.