Bay Area Employment Lawyer Blog

Mr. Cuiellette was a police officer employed by the City of Los Angeles. Due to an on-the-job injury, he was no longer able to perform the duties of a field officer. He filed a workers compensation claim and was rated 100% disabled. The City reassigned him to a light duty desk job, which he could…

Ms. Zullo worked for a newspaper publisher, Inland Valley Publishing Company. The employer’s handbook contained a policy requiring mandatory arbitration of employment disputes. The handbook stated that any arbitration would be governed by the American Arbitration Association rules, but failed to set forth those rules in detail. The handbook did require that an employee who…

Ms. Panjota, as well as a number of other women, had the bad fortunate of working for an employment lawyer, Mr. Anton, who should have known better. One must wonder how Mr. Anton got any work done, given that this case makes it look like every moment of his work day was spent spewing vile…

Dr. Jadwin sued his employer, Kern County, in federal court, for placing him on administrative leave in retaliation for his complaints about patient care and other violations. This underlying federal case subsequently resulted in a verdict of over $500,000.00 to Dr. Jadwin. Instead of heeding the warning of being particularly careful not to retaliate, or…

Nicolas Tides and Matthew Neuman both worked for Boeing in the State of Washington and both were concerned that Boeing’s practices violated the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The two employees complained internally, on multiple occasions, that they believed the system in place at Boeing permitted unauthorized users to alter the company’s internal controls rating system. Tides and…

The US Supreme Court’s April 27, 2011 decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion (2011) 563 U.S. _ is just the latest in a disturbing slide of the high court away from individual rights and liberties towards ever increasing corporate impunity. With its Concepcion decision, the Court further rolls back one of the lasting achievements…

Ms. Wills worked for Orange County and was terminated for violating the County’s policy against threatening conduct and/or violence in the workplace. Willis submitted evidence that her behavior in violation of the policy was due to a disability – her bipolar disorder. Wills also submitted evidence that the County was aware that she suffered from…

Nothing is more important than filing a lawsuit within the applicable time limits. One never knows if the court reviewing the case will be sympathetic to an argument that a claim wasn’t really filed late. The best and only lesson to be learned is never to put yourself in the position to argue that a…

Under federal law, an employee can bring a claim against an employer for failure to reinstate him or her after a family leave permitted under the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (state law provides the same protection under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA)). An employer can defend against such a claim by proving…

Mr. Kasten was fired by Saint-Gobain because he complained that the company prevented its workers from being paid for the time they spent “donning and doffing” (putting on required protective gear). He claimed that the location of the company’s time clocks caused this problem. Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastic Corp., __ U.S. __ (March 22,…