July 8th, 2010 
James PetersIf you have not heard about this, a Best Buy employee recently got into trouble for creating and posting a video poking fun at the iPhone and Apple in general.
Although the video was more of a parody based on observations about iPhones and those who buy them, Best Buy understandably did not take kindly to an employee publicly criticizing one of its major customers (and also… Continue reading
June 6th, 2010 James PetersYesterday I came across an article about an “English-only” law Tennessee passed just last week. My first reaction was similar to when I first heard of the Arizona immigration law, which is that it clearly violates federal law, will be struck down by the courts in short order, and is really nothing more than a political ploy to seem tough on immigration policy.
Most past legislation along… Continue reading
September 25th, 2009 James PetersThe Los Angeles Times recently reported on a new bill headed to Governor Schwarzenegger for possible signature (though I believe it is likely to be vetoed) generally prohibiting California employers from requiring applicants to allow them to examine their credit report as part of the application process.
The new California employment law would allow employers to do checks on employees who handle large amounts of money or other sensitive positions. While I recognize that in these situations there may be some correlation between a history of poor financial choices and the ability to do certain jobs, in today’s economy the usefulness of this information is, in my opinion, declining at the same time employers’ use of it as a hiring tool seems to be increasing. Continue reading
September 27th, 2008 James PetersA few days ago I happened upon an article about Littler Mendelson, P.C. They are a large employment law defense firm and have offices in every major metropolitan area of California. I would bet that if I looked at all of the cases our firm has handled over the years, Littler is the firm we are most often pitted against.
Except for a few bad… Continue reading
June 29th, 2008 James PetersSome employees (and some employee-rights attorneys) believe that if they are wrongfully terminated and able to get a new job just days later, they will only be able to recover a few thousand dollars and it would not be “worth it” to pursue a claim, especially if they have to pay an attorney to get it. However, in California victims of employee rights violations can recover their own attorney’s fees… Continue reading
February 6th, 2008 James PetersOk, so this topic has been blogged to death by not only me, but the blawgosphere as a whole. However, I just received this update to the story.
Sam Zell, the head of Tribune Co., met with his employees/journalists last week at the Orlando Sentinel, one of the newspapers covered by his idiotic or inspiring (depending on which side you are on in the debate) new employee handbook…
One employee asked Continue reading
January 24th, 2008 James PetersWell, the California Supreme Court finally released its opinion in Ross v. Ragingwire Telecommunications, Inc., S138130, today and I have to say I am disappointed with the opinion, although I think the dissenting opinion was completely on the mark.
The Court decided that employers can terminate employees in California who use medical marijuana with a doctor’s prescription for a valid medical reason and not be held liable for doing so… Continue reading
January 23rd, 2008 James PetersWell, my post about the Los Angeles Times article on their new employee handbook seems to have set off (or at least contributed to) a firestorm throughout the web. Some of the reaction seems off-the-mark, though.
Comments: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The overwhelming majority of mail I received is in agreement with my comments on the handbook, but I also received the most hate mail for any… Continue reading
January 19th, 2008 James PetersAn article in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times discusses their own parent company, Tribune Co.’s new employee handbook that was introduced by their CEO, Sam Zell, via a recent e-mail to employees.
This caught my eye because it is not every day that a company publicly releases or discusses their employee handbook. In fact, many handbooks actually state that its pages are the employer’s property and must be returned… Continue reading
January 17th, 2008 James PetersIn this third and final installment in our series on Ron Paul’s comments about employee rights in his book Freedom Under Siege, we examine his views on civil rights legislation in general, which can be found in several sections of his book, but is best summed up with the following quote found on page 39:
“[P]eople have the right to discriminate…in choosing…an employee…. Civil rights legislation of… Continue reading
January 16th, 2008 James PetersThis is the second in our series of posts based on Presidential Candidate Ron Paul’s musings on employee rights in his book Freedom Under Siege. This installment’s “Paulism” can be found on page 17 of the book:
The idea that the social do-gooder can legislate a system which forces industry to pay men and women by comparable worth standards boggles the mind…The concept of equal pay for equal… Continue reading
January 15th, 2008 James PetersI have tried to tune out most of the political primary hysteria because I (1) made up my mind about who I would be supporting in the election long ago and (2) I live in California, so my opinion is not really that important at this stage.
Today I happened to stumble across some of Ron Paul’s comments in Freedom Under Siege, a book is a bit shocking… Continue reading
January 12th, 2008 James PetersLet me first say that I rarely disagree with decisions by California state or federal appellate courts (at least those I am not personally involved in and therefore biased against). However, I occasionally come across a case where I just think the court got it wrong. In Mokler v. County of Orange, et.al. (Cal.App.Dist.4 11/26/2007), No. G036029, a former Orange County employee sued under several different claims, including sexual… Continue reading
November 7th, 2007 James PetersYesterday the California Supreme Court heard arguments in Ross v. Ragingwire Telecommunications, Inc.
In this case, the employee was refused employment because his pre-employment drug test came back positive for marijuana. The employee had been using medical marijuana at the direction of his physician to deal with lower back strain and muscle spasms.
Under California’s Compassionate Use Act, patients cannot be prosecuted under state law for using or possessing… Continue reading
March 5th, 2007 James PetersEmployers could avoid a LOT of lawsuits if they would just follow the “No Bad Apples Rule”, which has its origins in a book written by Dr. Robert Sutton called “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t”. I agree with Dr. Sutton that “bad apples” probably is not a strong enough word… Continue reading
January 14th, 2007 James PetersJay Shepherd over at the Gruntled Employees blawg has an interesting post from the employer’s attorney perspective about why he believes mandatory arbitration clauses are a stupid employer trick” and actually “not good for employers”.
I never understood why many employers force their employees to sign mandatory arbitration clauses, so this is refreshing to hear from a management-side employment law attorney… Continue reading
RSS Feed
Posted in 
Tags: 