Law Office of Arkady Itkin / Tel. 916-720-0100 / e-mail: arkady@arkadylaw.com
Anger rarely benefits anyone at workplace (or anywhere else for that matter). No one likes angry people and no one wants to help them. Angry people rarely get large verdicts from a jury or a judge because it’s hard to be generous with someone who show temper. This applies to testifying at a deposition or Read More …
California Labor Code section 512(a) generally allows an employer and employee to agree that if that employee works between ten and twelve hours in a day, the employee may waive his right to a second meal period, as long as the first meal period was not waived. This law was intended to allow employees the Read More …
First Amendment cases in the context of employment and wrongful termination cases are highly technical. In order to make a claim against a government employer for violation of the First Amendment, an employee must show (1) that he engaged in a protected speech; (2) that the employer took “adverse employment action”; and (3) that speech Read More …
It is important that you follow a three simple rules when complaining about discrimination, harassment or retaliation that you believe you or your co-workers are being subjected to: 1. Complain in writing. Oral complaints are often forgot or misunderstood. You would also be surprised how often the employer denies the very fact that an employee Read More …
It’s not uncommon for employer to change the story about why they terminated an employee. We have seen over and over how the employer would tell the employee that he is being laid off because the employer’s business needs have changed, and later – they challenge that employee’s unemployment benefits application, arguing for the first Read More …
Although there are some benefits to complaining about discrimination, harassment, retaliation, safety violations, etc., anonymously, whether internally or by contacting an outside governmental agency, consider the significant disadvantage of complaining without using your name: even if the employer later finds out somehow that you were the one who complaint, they can take action against you, Read More …
California Education Code Sections 44113(a) and 44114(c) are part of the Reporting by School Employees of Improper Governmental Activities Act. It prohibits “an employee” from using his or her official position to retaliate against “any person” to deter that person from making a disclosure protected by the Act. A “person” includes any individual. An employee Read More …
One kind of reasonable accommodation that an employee who has qualifying disability may be entitled to under ADA or FEHA is reassignment to a vacant position. This typically happens where an employee suffers a serious injury that prevents him or her from performing the physically demanding parts of his existing job, but where an employee Read More …
In 2011, the US Supreme Court held in Kasten v Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation (2011) that even oral complaints by employees about not being properly compensated constitute a protected activity within the meaning of anti-retaliation laws. In that case, the plaintiff brought a retaliation lawsuit against his employer under section 213(a)3 of the Fair Labor Standards Read More …