As the mid-point of the year approaches, employers should review their sexual harassment training obligations and ensure compliance, especially with the new law requiring sexual harassment prevention training for all employees by January 1, 2020 for employers with five or more employees.  Existing law already requires employers in California with 50 or more workers to provide at least two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to all supervisors.  The regulations regarding the training are becoming…

There is no silver bullet for California employers to avoid workplace disputes and litigation.  However, by focusing on a few key best practices, employers can reduce the likelihood of litigation, and if sued, the practices will make defending litigation much easier and can result in a better outcome.  Here are my top five employer practices to reduce employment liability:  1. Develop a company culture of documentation. It does not matter the type of employment litigation…

Employment Practices Liability Insurance, often referred to as EPLI, can be a great resource for some employers in California.  However, just like any other major purchasing decision, employers must be very careful when purchasing this insurance, as often times they can be surprised about what the insurance does not cover and the loss of control over the defense of lawsuits.  This Friday’s Five covers five issues employers must be aware when considering EPLI insurance: 1.…

In working with employers are various sizes, backgrounds, sophistication, and industries, I’ve seen a lot of confusion and simple misunderstandings about what constitutes employee discipline and how to properly document employee performance issues or discipline.  This Friday’s Five reviews five common misunderstandings about discipline and documentation: 1. If it was not a formal write-up put in the employee’s file, then the action does not constitute disciplinary action. There is no legal definition of what constitutes…

This Friday’s Five lists five action items employers should utilize when conducting harassment investigations: 1. Selecting the investigator Employers should take time to train an in-house person who can conduct harassment investigations.  This person, usually someone from Human Resources (but it does not need to be) should have additional experience and training about how to investigate these claims.  First, the person needs to be able to conduct appropriate investigations to limit the liability to the…

In Rodriguez v. Taco Bell Corp., 896 F.3d 952 (9th Cir. 2018), an employee brought a putative class action alleging that Taco Bell’s discounted meal policy effectively denied employees the ability to take a duty free meal break.  At issue in this case was Taco Bell’s policy of offering a discounted meal from the restaurant during the employees’ meal breaks as long as the employees ate the meal on the company’s premises.  The ability to…