Often times a temporarily disabled employee can take a medical leave and return to work without any restrictions. If the employee and employer meet certain criteria, the employee will be protected from retaliation or discrimination and legally entitled to return to...
In most industries, the expertise acquired through time makes an employee better at his job. This value sometimes gets passed along to the employee in the form of higher pay. Simultaneously, an employer might fear that an older workforce may require greater health...
When I began practicing employment law, I kept asking myself the same questions: How is it possible an employer can [fill in the blank -- i.e. fire someone because of a disability?] How can employers keep knowingly and intentionally breaking discrimination, harassment...
There are many choices that a plaintiff must make when he or she decides to bring a lawsuit. A number of variables may affect the manner in which a case proceeds, and the judgment in which it ultimately results. One of the most important decisions that must be made at...
Workplace discrimination can occur in numerous forms. Federal and state laws not only prohibit an employer from taking adverse action against an employee due to that employee's protected characteristics (such as race, religion, national origin, or disability status),...
The concept of at-will employment can often seem unfair. Many workers who feel they have been fired unjustly hope to take legal action against their former employers, but are disappointed to discover that they do not have sufficient grounds to bring viable lawsuits...
California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) offers plaintiffs many advantages over its federal counterpart, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These advantages are particularly significant in the area of harassment. To begin with, Title VII does...
Beginning a new job typically involves a great deal of paperwork. New employees invariably must fill out all manner of forms ranging from company policy acknowledgements to direct deposit authorizations. Due to the sheer number of documents associated with embarking...
Recently the New York Times ran a highly publicized piece on the work environment supposedly created and fostered at Amazon.com. The focus of the article was mostly on Amazon's campus in Seattle and the plight of the fairly compensated lower and middle tier staff. The...
It is illegal under both California and federal law for an employer to terminate or take other adverse employment action against an employee because that employee is disabled. In order to prevail on a wrongful termination claim for disability discrimination, however,...