Work in skilled trades, such as electrical work, plumbing and construction, usually pays well and offers good benefits without requiring a college degree. Nevertheless, relatively few women choose to enter these fields. What causes women to choose or avoid a...
Employment Law
Workers file their own lawsuits against Tesla for discrimination
In February, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Tesla, Inc. The allegations were stark. According to the lawsuit, Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant is a racially hostile workplace and even a racially segregated...
Automated hiring technology can result in ADA violations
These days, the hiring process typically involves uploading resumes and filing online applications. That allows employers to use artificial intelligence (AI) and various algorithms to “review” applicants and help narrow the field down to a select group of candidates...
Your boss says you’re an independent contractor. It may not be true.
The vast majority of the time, California law assumes that workers are the employees of who they work for. If a worker is going to work as an independent contractor, the hiring company must prove that they qualify under the law. This is important because employees are...
Are tip pools a form of wage theft?
A restaurant owner may decide that they would rather use a tip pool than allow each employee to collect their own tips. All this means is that, when tips collected from the tables, they are combined into a single pool and then divided fairly or equally among the...
Report: Black doctors routinely face discrimination and retaliation
People who identify as Black alone make up 12.4% of the U.S. population, but only 5% of active physicians in the U.S. identify as Black. That’s a problem because a lack of Black doctors contributes to poorer health outcomes among Black patients. Unfortunately, Black...
DOJ: discrimination against opioid treatment patients violates the ADA
We’ve long known that drug addiction is an impairment covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). That means that employers, law enforcement, jails, healthcare providers and others are prohibited from discriminating against people who suffer from substance...
Minor league baseball players don’t earn minimum wage. Should that change?
Minor league baseball players are specifically exempt from federal minimum wage and overtime requirements – but that doesn’t mean they’re exempt from California’s wage and hour law system. Indeed, a federal magistrate judge in Northern California recently ruled that...
Will Apple agree to an independent audit of its work practices?
Apple Inc. has long aspired to be a champion for civil rights, but critics say the technology giant fails to maintain an adequately diverse workforce, particularly in higher paid, higher-power positions. Some critics point to repeated reports of discriminatory...
Can one incident constitute illegal sexual harassment?
In certain circumstances, yes. This is because there are two types of sexual harassment: quid pro quo and hostile work environment. Both types of sexual harassment involve unwelcome sexual conduct that is made a term or condition of employment. Both types are forms of...