Entrepreneurs often ask me questions about startup funding — how and where they go about finding all the money they need to launch their ventures. These questions always lead to a conversation about friends-and-family, angel investors, seed funding firms (or “incubators”), venture capital firms, commercial banks, the SBA,…
Existing California law (Labor Code §218.5) awards attorneys’ fees to the successful party in any action brought to recover unpaid wages, fringe benefits, or pension fund contributions. Thus, if an employee brings an action to recover unpaid wages and wins, that employee gets his attorneys’ fees paid by the…
Today I came across this excellent blog post by Slava Akhmechet, founder of RethinkDB, that lists 57 startup lessons he’s learned over the years. If you’re an entrepreneur, or if you’re considering starting your own business, you should read his post. Here’s a few lessons learned, just to…
California’s Fair Employment & Housing Act (“FEHA”) already prohibits discrimination and harassment “based on sex.” Most people properly understand the term “sex” in this context to equate to “gender” or “gender identity.” Thus, most people understand that it is illegal for an employer to treat a female employee…
On August 6, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld $173,250 in penalties against an employer for failing to maintain correctly completed I-9 forms for newly hired employees. The employer, a drywall company, was notified by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) officials that it was conducting…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) yesterday adopted new rules lifting the ban on general solicitation and/or advertising for funds for certain private offerings of securities. The SEC took this action in order to implement the federal JOBS Act, which was passed by Congress in April 2012. The…
On July 1, 2013, California Attorney General Kamala Harris issued her first-ever “Data Breach Report” detailing the 131 data breaches that were reported to her office by 103 different entities in 2012. According to the report, 2.5 million Californians had their personal information compromised by data breaches in…
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited ruling in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar. The issue in that case was whether a plaintiff alleging illegal retaliation under Title VII against her employer had to show but-for causation (i.e., that the employer would not have taken…
Back in 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court announced two important decisions that clarified the scope of an employer’s liability for workplace sexual harassment under Title VII. These two cases are Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998), and Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742 (1998),…
A little over a year ago, I told you that the EEOC published new guidelines for how an employer should (1) handle inquiries into an applicant’s prior arrests and convictions, and (2) make employment decisions based on an applicant’s prior criminal record. You can find my blog post…