Recruiting and retaining talent is a challenge for every employer, especially in the red-hot economy here in the Bay Area. That’s why many employers are taking a fresh look at their employee benefits and asking, “Are these benefits really adding value?” A recent article in Forbes explains how “forward thinking”…
In a first-of-its-kind academic study that looked at both employee compensation and medical records, researchers at Washington University found that employee health and wellness declines as the employer shifts compensation towards bonuses and other incentive and performance-based compensation systems. In particular, the study showed that, as an employer…
In Furry v. East Bay Publishing, the California Court of Appeal held that an employee’s “imprecise” memory is sufficient evidence to support his claim for wages and overtime owed when the employer fails to keep accurate records of the employee’s work hours. The employer in Furry did not keep…
The California Court of Appeal recently ruled in Ward v. Tilly’s Inc. that employers who utilize “on call” scheduling have to pay reporting time pay to their employees. This decision is sending shockwaves through California’s restaurant and retail industries because it will significantly increase payroll costs for those…
Last year was a busy legislative year in California. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in particular spawned a host of new employment laws that took effect on January 1st. If you haven’t done so already, you should review your employee handbook and personnel policies to make sure that you are…
California has some of the strictest and most complicated wage and hour laws in the nation. And guess what? They’re even stricter and more complicated now after the California Supreme Court rejected the “de minimis” defense for employers in wage and hour disputes in California. What’s the “de…
California already has one of the most generous and employee-friendly overtime laws in the country. Employees in California earn overtime anytime they work over 8 hours in a day OR 40 hours in a week. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the employee’s regular “rate of pay.” Calculating…
Existing California law, known as the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), requires California employers with at least 50 employees to offer an eligible employee up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period (a) for the birth of a child (aka “baby bonding leave”), the adoption of…
According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, employer vacation policies are “broken” and “don’t work.” Analysis of Typical Employer Vacation Policies The typical employer policy allows an employee who has accrued paid time off to submit a request for vacation. That employee then has to…
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today approved a new ordinance that prohibits employers from asking candidates about their salary history. The new ordinance, if signed by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee as expected, will go into effect on July 1, 2018. Referred to as the “Parity in…