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Mark Ramijak worked as an account executive for FileNet Corp. in Costa Mesa, a company that sells and services document management software. He claimed that FileNet owed him about $200,000 in commissions and bonus payments from sales he had made of software and maintenance service contracts—and he eventually took his pay gripe to the California […]
We recently reported on a new federal Ninth Circuit ruling that you can be liable if a client sexually harasses an employee and you don’t take adequate steps to remedy the problem. Now, for the first time, a California jury has weighed in on harassment by non-employees, and the case has a different twist. The […]
We recently polled our CEA subscribers to determine how employers are managing employee cell phone use issues. Employers who responded had staff sizes ranging from five to more than 5,000. Cell Phone Use While Driving More than 96% of employers who responded said that some or all of their employees use cell phones to conduct […]
Hector Escalante was a print machine operator at Wilson’s Art Studio Inc. in Orange County. One day without warning co-worker Ion Stanei allegedly attacked Escalante with a stick and hammer and threw a box of screws at him. As Escalante ran away, Stanei hurled another box of screws, hitting Escalante in the back. When Escalante […]
Frank Lemon, the service manager for Fresno-based heavy equipment distributor J.M. Equipment Co., was fired without warning for making a sexually explicit remark to a female employee. Lemon sued, arguing that the company had until then tolerated a pervasive atmosphere of vulgar language and sexually charged conduct and that he was really terminated because J.M. […]
Lawrence Moreau was chief financial officer for Los Angeles-based Direct Express, which was later acquired by Paystation America. Less than three months after starting work, Moreau was fired for allegedly touching two female employees inappropriately. He sued, claiming the charge was unfounded and a company pretext to break his three-year employment contract. Now a Los […]
It’s illegal in California to induce someone to relocate to take a job based on misrepresentations about the position. This situation typically arises when an applicant moves to a new city for a job that doesn’t work out and then claims the employer made false promises about the opportunity. Now, in a new twist, an […]
A recent California Court of Appeal ruling involving an employee who agreed to undergo random drug testing places new restrictions on when you can administer drug tests. Random Drug Test Conducted On Employee’s Day Off Perrin Edgerton, a Caltrans equipment operator in the Redding area, failed a random drug test that came up positive for […]
You can impose height or weight restrictions for certain jobs as long as they’re necessary to the normal operation of your business and don’t burden one sex more heavily than the other. And it’s OK to set standards governing appearance and dress if they’re applied fairly to both men and women.
You’ve probably encountered one sometime or another. The supervisor who resorts to name-calling when dealing with subordinates. The worker who’s quick to blame others for mistakes. The manager who penalizes employees by excluding them from important meetings, removing them from routing lists or saddling them with menial work assignments. Although these workplace bullies may not […]