Law Office of Arkady Itkin / Tel. 916-720-0100 / e-mail: arkady@arkadylaw.com
Until recently, the employers were able to successfully argue that a retaliation claim cannot be made based on requesting accommodation to a disability. This was due to the California case law that suggested that requesting an accommodation to a disability is not a “protected activity” within the meaning of FEHA anti-retaliation laws, and therefore no Read More …
One of the most common types of medical notes that we see our clients receive is the so-called Kaiser “Work Status Report“. Usually, it just states that an employee is excused from work from date x till date y. No further information about that employee’s medical condition is provided. While this kind of Kaiser note Read More …
It’s not uncommon for employers to place a disabled employee on unpaid medical leave, even though that employee can perform all or most of his job duties with accommodation. An employer can have to major motivations for doing this – (a) hiring a (temporary) replacement who is healthy and who will be more efficient at Read More …
U.S.C. § 5851.1 is a whistleblower retaliation protection law that protects energy workers who report or otherwise act upon safety concerns. This law specifically prohibits employers from discharging or otherwise discriminating against employees for several acts, including notifying an employer of a violation, initiating an enforcement proceeding, or testifying in a safety or enforcement proceeding. Read More …
The Sixth District Court of Appeal recently explained in Serri v. Santa Clara University (2014), that unlawful harassment consists of conduct which is not necessary to one’s job performance and is “presumably engaged in for personal gratification, because of meanness or bigotry, or for other personal motives (citing Reno v. Baird (1998)) and “is distinguishable Read More …
Many compelling disability discrimination cases involve a situation where the employee has to call in sick due to his known serious medical condition or a disability, but the employer nevertheless penalizes that employee for those absences by writing that employee up or giving him a “point” for each absence, if there is a points systems Read More …
A common question among employees is whether your employer can and has a legal right to assign to you those job duties which are not part of your formal job description that you received upon hiring or at any time after you have been hired. The answer is usually (but not always) yes. If you Read More …
CFRA rights are intended to give employees an opportunity to take leave from work for certain personal or family medical reasons without jeopardizing their job security. Nelson v United Technologies (1999). Generally, CFRA makes it illegal for an employer of fifty or more employees to refuse to grant a request by an employee to take Read More …
One of the more common reasons an employee (especially a female employee) would be forced to resign from her employment is taking care of her children. Generally, the necessity for caring for one’s children constitutes “good cause” for voluntarily leaving work, where the employee would be entitled to unemployment benefits (Precedent Decision P-B-256). The two Read More …
“Undue hardship” is one type of defense available to employers to justify why they didn’t / couldn’t accommodate a disabled employee, as may be required by ADA / FEHA. To use this defense, the employer has a burden of proving that specific accommodation would have imposed an undue hardship on their operations financially or otherwise. Read More …