tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-120241612024-03-05T00:03:50.115-08:00Drama, Conflict, Despair & Victory at WorkIf Courts Didn't Publish It, You Wouldn't Believe It!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.comBlogger313125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-3520496277621059622014-06-09T14:34:00.002-07:002014-06-09T14:34:33.227-07:00When to Sue Your Employer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Why would you file a suit for discrimination or harassment at work? You're a peace loving person who just wants to do his or her job, and go home to enjoy the family. Besides, you ask yourself, how can I prove it?<br />
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There are three reasons to file a case for discrimination:<br />
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1) Your efforts to enter an early dialogue and resolution of your employment grievances have reached an impasse despite your best efforts to be transparent and reasonable;<br />
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2) You know the company treated you unfairly in deciding to let you go, and you strongly suspect, even if you cannot put your finger on it, that it was because you were an older worker, or that you took some time off for a serious health condition, or because you weren't a member of the "old boys" club.<br />
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3) You have obtained expert legal counsel who informed you of the strengths and weaknesses of your case, giving it to you straight. Your questions about financial costs, and risks of losing were answered forthrightly, and you're ready to make the investment.<br />
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This third reason includes an assessment of just what you have to prove in a discrimination case. The fine point here is this: indirect and circumstantial proof is sufficient. In other words, extracting an admission, or obtaining a private email or memo stating a discriminatory motive in firing someone is not a requirement of the case.<br />
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The reason is practical: discrimination is seldom a moment of pride for an employer. The manager who makes the discriminatory decision is likely unaware of his or her own bias, or is very hesitant to admit it to himself or anyone else. The sparsity of direct evidence means that many real cases of discrimination would never be presented or proven, and therefore discrimination at work would go unchecked.<br />
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As a result, the courts have designed the following basic elements of a discrimination case: a) that you are in a "protected" category; b) that you were performing your work satisfactorily; c) that there was remaining work for you to perform; d) that someone outside your "protected category" assumed your job responsibilities, and d) that you have suffered financial and/or emotional injury as a result.<br />
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It's that simple, and that incomplete. The burden of proof has been met, but the employer may overcome that proof with evidence of its own that the reason for termination was business necessity. That burden is fairly easy to meet.<br />
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The game-changer in the trial of a discrimination case is to prove that the reason is not only a lie, but likely a lie intended to cover-up a discriminatory motive. Are we back where we started with a requirement of direct proof? No. Only some additional corroborative evidence of discrimination is needed. For example, a manager may have made an off-handed comment that "Bob, you seem to be slowing down. When will you be retiring?" or maybe there is an email that refers to the need to recruit new youthful energy into the organization. These are not "direct" statements, but they are relevant to the question of discrimination, and courts have so held.<br />
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To conclude, you would file a lawsuit if your employer is stubborn in refusing to settle despite the uncertainty of "circumstantial proof" you or your attorney presents informally in an effort to reach an early settlement. As the case progresses, witnesses are interrogated, and documents collected, the employer may awaken to the risk of a significant verdict it could have avoided early in the process by listening to reason.<br />
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-15493628965212391952014-06-09T12:20:00.000-07:002014-06-09T12:20:30.715-07:00Questions to Ask Your Employment Lawyer and Yourself About Your Case.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Question One: How many employment law cases have to your tried to completion?</div>
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Question Two: What systems do you have in place to manage my case?</div>
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Question Three: How active are you in professional organizations?</div>
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These are difficult questions perhaps, but with a little preface to the questions, they will seem perfectly reasonable: "I am a lay person. I am trying to select the most qualified and trustworthy advocate. May I ask a several questions about your background?"</div>
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Good lawyers will graciously and generously answer your questions. If you do not get that reception, it's best to look for another employment law practitioner. But there are also three questions you may find useful to ask yourself after your meeting with your lawyer candidate:</div>
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Question 1: Did I feel a positive, confidence inspiring connection with this person?</div>
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Question 2: Did I feel I was heard, and that he or she got the essential points?</div>
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Question 3: Did I leave feeling I understood the big picture of what this attorney would do for me, how, and when?</div>
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You don't have to like your lawyer to obtain good results, but it will make the process easier because you'll be working as a team. This "team" approach to the case is especially true in contingency cases where you and the lawyer each have a percentage stake in the outcome. A good lawyer will want that team spirit and connection as much as you. Here are three questions that your should ask both you and your lawyer before you go forward:</div>
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Question 1: Do we communicate clearly and efficiently with one another?</div>
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Question 2: Can we laugh and relax even as we discuss difficult legal issues?</div>
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Question 3: Do we exchange ideas and insights about the case freely?</div>
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These "team" based answers will give you a preview of how you and your lawyer will respond when there is an unexpected negative turn in the case (and there always is.) For example, what if the other attorney uses intimidation tactics, or a particular piece of evidence is excluded, or a critical motion is denied, or perhaps a cooperative witness disappears or changes his anticipated testimony? You need to work together at those times to develop new approaches in the heat of the situation.</div>
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Here are 3 final questions, perhaps questions at the highest level of evaluation:</div>
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Question 1: Is my lawyer able to tell the emotional story of my case?</div>
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Question 2: Is my lawyer able to connect well with other people, especially people likely to be on a jury, or sitting as judge of my case?</div>
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Question 3: Is my lawyer creative, looking for tactics and approaches that may seem unusual, but that give us an edge against the opposition?</div>
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There are no perfect lawyers, just as you will not be the perfect client with the perfect case. Your goal is to find the best imperfect lawyer you can, and to be able to work with both the strengths and weaknesses of both him or her, and your particular case.</div>
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Frank Pray has devoted the last 18 years of his nearly 40 years of practice to litigating cases exclusively for employees in wrongful termination, discrimination, whistle-blower, harassment, and wage/hour cases. As a sole practitioner, he gives his personal attention to each client, from the first meeting to the settlement or verdict. He is an experienced trial and arbitration lawyer, and active member of the Orange County Bar Association Labor and Employment Section [2011 Section Chair]. He is also a member of the William P. Gray Inn of Court, dedicated to excellence and ethics in the practice of law, and a member of the Orange County Bar Association "Masters Division" and Solo Practitioners Section. <br />
<br />
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-39934198549924778612014-03-31T18:05:00.002-07:002014-03-31T18:12:29.436-07:00NINE BLACK ROBED MEN AND WOMEN SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON "CLOTHING."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: large;"><b>To Be Paid, Or Not to
Be Paid, That is the Question: Supreme
Court Wrestles With Clothing to Reach the Naked Truth</b>. <i>Sandifer
v. U.S. Steel Corp</i>. (2014) 2014 DJDAR 1024.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: large;">My first thought about this U.S.
Supreme Court case:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We filter out the
best legal talent for high office to decide what the word “clothing” means?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: large;">Frankly, I’m inclined to write a
ditty about “donning and doffing” – words so often repeated by these noble
jurists that you would think the terms to have mystical significance, perhaps
reaching to the level of “these penumbral rights” used by Justice Douglas in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Griswold vs. Connecticut </i>(1965) 381 U.S.
479.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: large;">Instead of the weighty issue of
whether a Planned Parenthood defendant could be prosecuted for providing
contraceptives to a married couple, the issue in the recent case of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sandifer v. U.S. Steel Corp.</i> (2014) 2014
DJDAR 1024, was the question of just what is “clothing?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it is like defining “the absence of
clothing,” and we can say that we can know what it is by understanding what it
is not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this way, </span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Justice </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_Stewart" title="Potter Stewart"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Potter
Stewart</span></a><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> to described his
threshold test for </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscenity" title="Obscenity"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">obscenity</span></a><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobellis_v._Ohio" title="Jacobellis v. Ohio"><i><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Jacobellis v. Ohio</span></i></a><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> (1964) by writing famously:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I know it when I see it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: black;">Much of the business that occupies these great nine minds is
the interpretation of federal statutes.
Sandifer is a look into the naked truth:
Supreme Court justices too have mundane daily work tasks that require
their attention – in this case, does “donning and doffing” of work equipment
qualify as “changing clothes” under Section 203(<i>o</i>) of the Fair Labor and Standards Act? For those who care, the Court held that they
and their lesser colleagues of the District Courts, need not spend precious
juristic thought sorting out the time inserting an ear plug versus the donning
of a shirt. If the equipment was a minor
part of the major time taken to “don and doff” then it was all to be treated as
“clothing” under the Act. Thus, these
employees were not to be paid for getting dressed (or undressed) for work. </span><span style="background-color: #b6d7a8;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-14463359539663499992014-03-31T17:56:00.004-07:002014-03-31T18:02:01.685-07:00“I Come to Bury This Employee, Not to Praise Him.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">In employment discrimination cases, employers, like Marc
Antony, come not to praise the employee, but to bury him. Unlike Antony, they mean
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The employer’s oration might go like
this, as taken from Scene II, in “Julius Caesar:”</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWLM4lqeeKYE6AP44elk6up6AC9svOjDCYHY5xjDS4h29JY3yS4UbbomKcLwNzrAnaV8C1Ei90OV2aITNhL9CSpvqB5DNmwqiRxcudjL7ESguJRI4ZUAEUDiUqoQzVoztg1cv/s3200/caesar-augustus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKWLM4lqeeKYE6AP44elk6up6AC9svOjDCYHY5xjDS4h29JY3yS4UbbomKcLwNzrAnaV8C1Ei90OV2aITNhL9CSpvqB5DNmwqiRxcudjL7ESguJRI4ZUAEUDiUqoQzVoztg1cv/s3200/caesar-augustus.png" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
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<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span>
<!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="82"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times;">Your Honor,
Jurors, and Plaintiff’s counsel, lend me your ears;</span></a><span style="font-family: Times;"><br />
</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="83"><span style="background: white;">I come to bury this Employee, not to
praise him.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="84"><span style="background: white;">The evil that men do lives after
them;</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="85"><span style="background: white;">The good is oft interred with their
bones;</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="86"><span style="background: white;">So let it be with this Employee. The
noble </span></a><span style="background: white;">Plaintiff’s counsel</span></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="87"><span style="background: white;">Hath told you this Employee was
ambitious:</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="88"><span style="background: white;">If it were so, it was a grievous
fault,</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="89"><span style="background: white;">And grievously hath the Employee
answer'd it.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="90"><span style="background: white;">Here, under leave of the Plaintiff’s
Attorney and the rest--</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="91"><span style="background: white;">For Plaintiff’s Counsel is an
honourable man;</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="92"><span style="background: white;">So are they all, all honourable men--</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="93"><span style="background: white;">Come I to speak against this
Employee’s case for wrongful termination.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="94"><span style="background: white;">He was my client’s worst nightmare, unfaithful
and unjust to my client, but:</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="95"><span style="background: white;">But the Plaintiff’s counsel says he
was ambitious;</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="96"><span style="background: white;">And Plaintiff’s counsel is an
honourable man.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="97"><span style="background: white;">Plaintiff’s counsel hath won many
cases and brought </span></a><span style="background: white;">home the spoils,</span></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="98"><span style="background: white;">Whose ransoms did the his own bank
account fill:</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="99"><span style="background: white;">Does this same intent to enrich the
present Plaintiff seem ambitious?</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="100"><span style="background: white;">When that my client’s managers have
cried in frustration, this Plaintiff </span></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="101"><span style="background: white;">laughed.<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="102"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>Yet the Plaintiff’s attorney says
the Plaintiff was ambitious;</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="103"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>And the Plaintiff’s attorney is an
honourable man.</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="104"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>You all did see that on the Lupercal</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="105"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>My client presented him warnings,
and a performance improvement plan,</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="106"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>Which he did thrice refuse: was this
ambition?</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="107"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>Yet the Plaintiff’s attorney says he
was ambitious;</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="108"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>And, the Plaintiff’s attorney, he is
an honourable man.</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="109"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>I speak not to disprove what Plaintiff’s
counsel spoke,</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="110"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>But here I am to speak what I do
know.</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="111"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>My client did love the Plaintiff
once, not without cause:</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="112"><span style="background: white;">What cause withholds you then, to vote
for him?</span></a><span style="background: white;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will tell you!</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="113"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>O judgment! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give my client judgment, for truth has fled to
brutish beasts,</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="114"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>And give us jurors who have not lost
their reason. Bear with me;</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="115"><span style="background: white; font-size: large;"><i>My heart is there with my client,
the employer,</i></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="116"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><i>And I must pause till it come back
to me.</i></span></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bookmark: 101;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Times;">Good work should be made of sterner stuff:</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: 101;"></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An employee’s performance, like a new lover, is first seen
unblemished, and flaws are but charming accouterments, until the day a new
supervisor or manager enters the picture with a bias to grind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then those little omissions, those slight
deviations, that accidental entry, are the mountain peaks of error, rising like
the Tetons. All to this purpose: to establish that the victim deserved what she
got:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she was incompetent, defective in
the extreme, unworthy of her job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly,
no discrimination was at play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Which brings us to the case of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cheal v. El Camino Hospital</i> (Jan. 31, 2014) 2014 DJDAR 1331 (6<sup>th</sup>
App. District – Santa Clara County).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
cite this case because it reveals the world of Summary Judgment in
discrimination cases, and because it reveals the heavy hand of some trial
judges unwilling to clear the smoke of a “thousand insults” thrown at the
employee in the moving papers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cheal
court described this “smoke” as “the deluge of statements, counterstatements
and objections, that mark modern summary judgment practice.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cheal is a droning of details deep into the daily work performance
of a hospital dietician, or “menu tech” whose job was to prepare daily menus
for hospital patients in compliance with doctor orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Defendant filed 77 alleged “undisputed
statements of fact” to support its motion of summary judgment, most of them
going to Cheal’s work deficiencies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Court of Appeal, God bless them, somehow found the time and interest, to wade
through these, and to then examine the merits of each against the “triable issue
of fact” standard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the decision is
written as a microscopic account of how Cheal put the truth of Defendant’s
performance charges in issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here is what is useful to the employee from this decision
(as well as instructive to the Defendant Employer bringing the motion):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Proof that the Plaintiff’s work performance was
not satisfactory to the employer is not the relevant question or standard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[For surely, the employer in its motion will
always “beg the question” that the performance was not satisfactory.]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what level of competence did the employer truly
require as the operating standard for all employees?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The related secondary question is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what level of performance relative to this
standard did the employee actually provide?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->A smart employee’s attorney opposing the motion
will obtain evidence that other employees in like circumstances committed a
higher rate of error, but were not disciplined in like manner AND that these
“favored” employees were outside Plaintiff’s “protected category.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The employee must attack the Defendant’s “smoke
screen” of “counselings” and “coachings” for what they often are:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>casual remarks made in passing that no
reasonable employee would consider a criticism or warning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, the Cheal Court cited evidence that
the “coaching” was presented in the MSJ as disciplinary action when there was
no evidence to support that the infraction incurred as charged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->It is critical that in the MSJ, and of course,
at the time of the employer-employee disciplinary exchange itself, the employee
expose the lack of truth behind the performance criticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cheal</i>
court relied heavily in its decision on rebuttal evidence that the infraction
did not occur or was not as severe as represented in the moving papers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, one contention was that
Plaintiff erroneously failed to stamp a patient’s menu sheet as “pudding thick”
with the result that the patient received food that was “honey thick.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surrounding this issue was a complex web of
other issues:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a) why did the employer
not have a stamp for “pudding thick,” if the employer thought the designation
so critical; b) the defendant’s manager relied on statements by a speech
therapist who informed her that the patient had been fed “honey thick” over 3
days, but when deposed, the speech therapist denied making that statement; c)
there was evidence that the error was committed not by the plaintiff, but by
another employee; and d) that the error was not attributable to any fault of
the Plaintiff who did not have the opportunity to check the accuracy of the
other employee’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just summarizing this single
factual dispute on the matter of “cause to terminate” is mind-numbing, and
frankly boring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of me wants to
scream “who cares?” The answer is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Court
of Appeal cares, then so must the Plaintiff and the Plaintiff’s attorney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cheal Court devoted pages of detailed
recitation of the evidence for this issue, as well as 3 other similar detailed
and complex clusters of factual dispute concerning “performance
competency.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The Cheal court raised an important point of
evidence where the decision maker utters a hearsay statement to a co-worker or
friend indicative of bias:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the statement
may be admissible as a “declaration against interest,” where the “interest” in
question is the risk of losing one’s employment if the employer learns that a
manager harbors such discriminatory attitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this case, Cheal’s manager said to a friend (turned Plaintiff’s
witness) over a private dinner that the manager favored younger, pregnant
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cheal was neither younger, nor
pregnant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, the statement was
useful, but subject to Defendant’s objection in the MSJ as hearsay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Plaintiff sought to have the statement to
be a “party admission” because authorized by the Company, or on the basis of
Evidence Code Section 1224 [a vicarious admission].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cheal court rejected these approaches, and
independently found that the statement was admissible because the manager made
the statement knowing the statement put her employment at risk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore Evidence Code Section 1230
[“declaration against interest”] applied as an exception to the hearsay rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the first case to make such an
evidentiary holding in California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
will be a useful tool for Plaintiff’s attorneys’ in future Summary Judgment
motions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-37965214634807751352013-03-17T10:42:00.001-07:002013-03-17T10:42:16.966-07:00RETHINK: ARE YOU YOUR JOB? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-21317001460355287312013-02-24T08:46:00.003-08:002013-02-24T08:46:52.383-08:00Imagine: Greater Productivity With Less Stress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/14g0muZ951M" width="560"></iframe>
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-61571032536678533592012-12-24T18:48:00.000-08:002012-12-24T18:53:59.763-08:00Ebenezer Scrooge Is Rebuked, and Tiny Tim Gets His Referral Fees.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgberx_QJpZW1fnKdbKfBcSA5ZG3hhE5QSs2z9KJRtSdSXHqBit_P1d4whyqIi3wh69u9hRenG5r8wf-iwabVeW3qB6CZzt1Uiuij0XlPqX5mRU08qy1QWyeUIOIbjO2f7q7fDg/s1600/TinyTim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgberx_QJpZW1fnKdbKfBcSA5ZG3hhE5QSs2z9KJRtSdSXHqBit_P1d4whyqIi3wh69u9hRenG5r8wf-iwabVeW3qB6CZzt1Uiuij0XlPqX5mRU08qy1QWyeUIOIbjO2f7q7fDg/s1600/TinyTim.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a battle over one-third of $13.5 million, let the gamesmanship begin. Two Orange County law firms were engaged in a battle to share class action attorney fees. The battle was between the referring class-action attorney and the prosecuting class-action attorneys. The key rules of the gamesmanship were: 1) Rule of Professional Conduct 2-200 and 2) Rule of Court 3.769.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rule 2-200 requires that an attorney to provide full disclosure to his client of any proposed fee sharing agreement and that he obtain his client’s prior written consent for the fee splitting. Rule 3.769 requires that as part of a class action settlement, the trial court, in order to award attorneys fees, must be provided with the full retainer agreement between the attorney and the class.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the case of a class action, the named class representives ordinarily would sign the Rule 2-200 fee splitting agreement on behalf of the class. In this case, matters became complicated when the referring attorney settled a separate individual whistleblower case against the same employer-defendant named in the class action. The referring attorney as part of the settlement of the separate individual whistleblower case agreed to confidentiality of all matters learned in the individual litigation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now the class-action attorney, after several years of assuring the referring attorney that the referral fee was to be paid, asserted that a fee arrangement with the referring attorney would risk creating a “conflict of interest” between the attorneys and the class clients. That is, presumably, the defendant employer would assert that the class attorneys should be disqualified from representing the class because they were in violation of the confidentiality agreement of the referring attorney. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The exact nature of the conflict is not spelled out in the Court of Appeal decision, but the confidentiality clause was prospective only, that is, information shared with the class action attorneys by the individual plaintiff attorney before the settlement could not be the basis for a conflict of interest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This latter point is of some relevance because it tended to show that the class-action attorneys were using a bogus reason to lock out the referring attorneys claim for fees. The tactic used by the class-action attorneys was to dismiss the originally filed class-action which used the names of the class representatives provided by the referring attorney. The class-action attorneys then refiled the class-action using the names of different class-action representatives, hoping thereby to defeat the referring attorneys lien for fees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The class action attorneys' ploy was simply this: there can be no referral fee paid because there was no signed agreement to split fees as required by rule 2-200. Consequence: the class-action attorneys were roughly $4 million richer. One wonders if this diligent assertion of Rule 2-200 was motivated by a noble desire to comply with the high purposes of Rule 2-200 to protect the public from conflicts of interest, or, was simple old-fashioned greed?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The Court of Appeal, Justices Rylaarsdam, Aronson, and newly appointed Presiding Justice Ikola unanimously held for the referring attorney. The Justices basically recognized that the procedural tactics of the class-action attorneys had unjustly prevented the referring attorney from notifying the court of its fee sharing arrangement. The court found that the reason the contract was not signed was due simply to switching class-action representatives. The Court of Appeal noted that this kind of “bait and switch” tactic would discourage class-action referrals, and that would be harmful to the public. That is, attorneys should be encouraged to refer cases to specialists within various areas of law. The Court stated that class-action attorneys cannot wield Rule 2-200 as a sword to obtain unjust enrichment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I am personally happy with this Court of Appeal ruling. In my opinion, the Court simply refused to allow an ethical rule to be used for unethical purposes.</span></div>
<br />
<i>For the full decision, see: Barnes, Crosby, Fitzgerald & Zeman, LLP v. Ringler</i> 2012 DJDAR16991 [Filed Dec. 19, 2012]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com" www.http:="www.http:"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-21405928630108408162012-12-01T09:23:00.001-08:002012-12-01T09:23:33.478-08:00Making Space for Creativity in the Practice of Law
My experience with the "Creativity Crash Course" at the <a href="http://www.venture-lab.org/creativity">Stanford Online </a> has motivated me to make some changes in my law office environment: 1) converted my entire hardware and software to Mac, 2) shifted to cloud based backup, and shfited to a fully wireless network 3) have gone fully paperless, 4) use wireless dictation and Dragon transcription, 4) dumped my rectangular desk and all file cabinets for a single round desk and a stand up laptop work station, and 5) added new artwork that communicates calm and "openness." The overall idea: greater productivity through more physical and emotional space and an invitation to collaborate and "move" while working.
<br />"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br /><http://www.http://infostripe.com/employeelaw><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-34506603276412258232012-11-28T14:03:00.000-08:002012-11-28T14:03:28.045-08:00<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HjJRdMzD-1Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Harvard University has created a massive data base from online testing for "Implicit Preference." Unconscious bias is our innate neurological filtering process that allows us to quickly assess "safety" from "danger" Our task in a complex modern society is to sort out useful and harmful biases. "Unconscious bias" is not a matter of being a "bad" person. Biases however can cause us to evaluate co-workers and acquaintances not only inaccurately, but also illegally. The challenge of the law is to implement a system of proof that allows a jury or judge to infer bias operated from circumstantial evidence. I think expert psychological opinion is sometimes needed to support how bias operates in managers who will vigorously declare under oath: "I am not biased."
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com" www.http:="www.http:"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-91193389948324098432012-10-28T12:22:00.001-07:002012-10-28T12:22:49.216-07:00Current Creativity Exercise<div class='posterous_autopost'><p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile0.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-10-28/JpHqCxppDwrGdjChrhzBrcbnzmCvceDmEIBwqGizFxBpylAJkfwEFwAlsarJ/Screen_Shot_2012-10-24_at_12.31.42_PM.png.scaled1000.png"><img alt="Screen_shot_2012-10-24_at_12" height="313" src="http://getfile8.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2012-10-28/JpHqCxppDwrGdjChrhzBrcbnzmCvceDmEIBwqGizFxBpylAJkfwEFwAlsarJ/Screen_Shot_2012-10-24_at_12.31.42_PM.png.scaled500.png" width="500" /></a> </div> I'm participating in a six-week Stanford University online creativity class involving 30,000 people from all over the world organized into creative teams. This week's assignment is to "be more attentive." Specifically, we are to observe and record what we see at four retail outlets. From these observations will come opportunities to improve the way customers are serviced.</p> <p>I am a lawyer and writer, and maybe more importantly I'm a dad. Every one of these roles requires I pay attention and come up with creative solutions. I'm sure creativity is a major part of your world also. Why not reframe the way you look at the world today to explore the possibility of other answers?</p> <p> The picture is my team's report from our first week. Fairly clear from the outset was that we were to create not only the way we approach a problem but the way we report the solution.</p> <p> </p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-11039859561261750272012-10-24T17:53:00.001-07:002012-10-24T17:53:51.255-07:00Prowlng for the Gaffe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I just read an article in the Los Angeles Daily Journal [“<i>Binders Full of Platitudes</i>” – Oct. 22, 2012, p.5] by Eric Kingsley of Kingsley and Kingsley, noting what a terrible "gaffe" Mitt Romney committed with the stated that he obtained "binders of women" to fill Cabinet positions while governor of Massachusetts. This statement allegedly demonstrated that Mr. Romney is an obstruction if not an outright opponent of equal pay for women. It's easy enough to see the statement for oneself by going to YouTube. I took the time to view the statement. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It seems to me that partisan fervor incline some people to pounce like tigers upon any imagined "gaffe".
As an employee rights attorney I certainly advocate for equality in the workplace, and particularly equal pay for equal work. Still, I question why an intelligent man like Mr. Kingsley is so bent out of shape. I can't help but believe that Mr. Kingsley was in search of a gaffe--one that would give him a platform for writing an article like that I found in the Daily Journal. Mr. Kingsley ends his article with the statement: "This issue highlights the GOP's current 'war on women.'"</span><br />
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">More interesting to me than this partisan diatribe about those bad corporations oppressing women, are the economic realities that lead to disparate pay practices. I don’t love corporations, nor do I hate them. They are simply mechanisms people use to make money. They are neutral while the people who run may or may not be ethical.
But economics—now that is more scientific than Mr. Kingsley’s diatribe. Economics produces data. </span><span style="font-size: large;">The young woman posing the question to the candidates in the town hall forum noted in the question that women currently earn 78% of what men earn. Let’s start there.
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I just finished reading a book by a liberal author who might take issue with Mr. Kingsley based on a review of the economic data and trends. It seems education and culture are the key drivers toward gender equality, not legislation or individual court decisions. The book is “<em>The Great Divergence—American’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It</em>” by Timothy Noah [Bloomsbury Press, 2012].
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<span style="font-size: large;">Noah makes the following points: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Single mothers suffer most from income disparity. (Implying that the divorce rate is a major contributor). The reality is that single mothers have less time to devote to extra hours of work and less flexibility in working, and thus earn less. That is, anyone unable to work the necessary hours to build a career or to attend school will earn less. There is a gender problem, but it has more to do with who is the primary caretaker of dependent children. [Between 1970 and 2004 the number of single parent homes in which minor children lived rose from 12% to 26%]</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">
Our earnings gap between the “rich” and the “middle class” is not due to gender inequality in pay, because that gap is closing even as the gap between “rich” and “middle class” increases. See generally “<em>Women in the Labor Force: A Databook, Report</em> (Washington: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009), 8.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The number of Master’s degrees awarded after 1990 has doubled, and most of those have gone to women. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">College educated women have seen their incomes increase in tandem with the productivity increases, while college educated men’s incomes have lagged behind productivity increases. More women than men in the U.S. earned doctorates for the first time in 2009, and after.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/14/AR2010091400004.html" target="_blank">Supporting Washington Post Article</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Part time female workers generally earn more than part time male workers. “<em>The Gender Wage Gap: 2010,” fact sheet</em> (Washington: Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Mar. 2011; updated Apr. 2011). [However, there is an apparent gender bias gap in that women taking first time positions right out of college earn about 16% less than males.] </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Women now outnumber men in college and post-graduate education enrollments. [implying the gap will of necessity close in the labor supply-demand dynamic of a high-tech society].</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In conclusion, I recognize that gender discrimination exits, against both genders. Are court decisions and verdicts the answer? The conclusion is inescapable: women are helping themselves by advancing their educations, and being more in demand than men for higher paying jobs. Not only that, but the most highly educated women will open doors for other women who work for them and with them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Both Mr. Kingsley and I make our living representing women and other “protected categories.” Even so, neither he nor I, nor the U.S. Congress will produce the gender equality he and I dream to see happen. It appears the answer has come from an unexpected source: the greater appetite and adaptability women are demonstrating for success in the U.S. educational environment.</span> </div>
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"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-33169282300198864772012-10-24T17:42:00.003-07:002012-10-24T17:54:17.129-07:00Only Manly Men and Little Women Need Apply.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." Not a place where a charge of gender stereotyping is likely to occur. But what about some workplaces in our country where those in power of hiring and firing might think all the women are to be "good looking," and all the men are to be "strong?"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I represent people who are in the process of changing gender
in cases of discrimination based on gender stereotypes. These clients are some of the most
courageous persons I know as they seek to navigate not just the medical
transition, but also the employment dynamics that emerge as the transgender
employee makes his or her new identity known. The social impact within a workplace is challenging for
everyone: a change of name, a
change of dress, a change of toilet use, a change of grooming, a change of
voice, a change of emotions, a host of changes, that are often first discovered
by seeing the changes rather than discussing them proactively. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Companies wanting to avoid liability, or even more
responsibly, seeking to be sensitive and supporting during this sometimes
awkward shift in office dynamics, do not have to re-invent the wheel of company
policies. Guidelines are in place
by progressive companies that can be used as models for both the company and
the individual to make the “transition.”
See for example, the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111067366/Gender-Transition-Model-Employer-Policy-Guidelines">Ernst
Young Transition Policy.</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> An EEOC
administrative decision in April, 2012 entitled <i>Macy v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosive Agency</i>
provides an excellent overview of the applicable federal law protecting persons
in gender transition. More than
that, it serves to clarify the essence of sex discrimination: the perception of a person’s sexual
characteristics in a way that leads to discrimination. The gravamen of discrimination is not
the biology of sex, but the stereotyped perceptions of what sexual identity is
supposed to be. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In Macy v Holder, Mia Macy was denied a position at the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), after she informed
her background investigator that she was in the process of transitioning from
male to female. She was informed
shortly after that the position was no longer available due to budget
cuts. However, concern with the abrupt
elimination of the position, she approached an EEO counselor to express her concerns. Macy later learned that the position
was not eliminated. Instead, management
had filled with another applicant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Macy believed the offer of position was revoked because she
disclosed her transgender identity during her background check. She filed an EEO complaint against the
ATF and alleged that she was discriminated against based on “sex, gender
identity (transgender woman) and on the basis of sex stereotyping”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The administrative EEO officers denied that Macy’s entire
claims were under EEOC jurisdiction.
They tried to separate the claims: discrimination based on “sex”, which
is processed by the EEOC and “sex stereotyping”, “gender transition/change of
sex”, and “gender identity” which, they claimed, were not. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The EEOC concluded that Title VII discrimination occurs when
a person is treated differently because of stereotyped attitudes about how a
person is to act as a male or as a female. In reaching this decision, the EEOC relied primarily on the
U.S. Supreme Court decision in <i>Price Waterhouse
v. Hopkins</i> (1989) 490 U.S. 228, 239.
The Supreme Court held that Price Waterhouse managers acted in violation
of Title VII when they denied promotion to a female accounting partner because
she did apply the cosmetics or behavioral style they thought were
“feminine.” The EEOC,
following <i>Price Waterhouse,</i> decided
that the term “sex” describes not only “the biological differences between a
men and women – and gender” but also the perceptions that a decision maker may
have about how a person is to express his or her gender identity. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The decision is an excellent source of legal information for
persons wanting to act within the law, and for those who have been wronged by
those indifferent to Title VII’s protections. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111063046/Imposing-Sex-Stereotyping-Ideas-on-Employees-Who-Are-in-Gender-Transition-Violates-Title-VII-EEOC-Ruling"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Link
to the Commission’s Full Decision on Scribed.</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com" www.http:="www.http:"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-60676379527433572972012-09-19T18:23:00.001-07:002012-09-19T18:23:11.556-07:00Playing the Odds: Duran Duran<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are the odds the Supreme Court will overturn the Court of
Appeal in any randomly selected case coming before it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Justices may just be more able to provide
that probability analysis after its review of <em>Duran v. U.S. National Bank Association</em> 203 Cal.App.4<span style="font-size: small;"><sup>th</sup> 212.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This case, now pending before the Supreme Court, will decide the way
proof is admitted to prove class members properly belong in the class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Duran</i>, the issue was the
scope of proof needed to establish an employer’s liability to a class for
non-payment of overtime. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Court
devised its own method of getting to an “efficient” trial method to admit
evidence applicable to all 260 employees:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>it randomly selected 21 individuals out of the total population of 260.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on this random sample, Court ruled the
entire population of employees was misclassified as salaried exempt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The trial court refused to allow evidence obtained by the defense
from 70 employees that they were not properly in the class overtime eligible
employees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least these 70, argued the
defense, should have been excluded from the “presumed” class of all 260
employees. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our conservative Supreme Court may track the thinking of the U.S.
Supreme Court in <em>Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes</em> (2011) 131 S.Ct. 2541 (2011)
that found serious due process concerns with statistical methods that
overlooked significant individual differences among a large part of the population
of all “class” members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, our Court,
applying our overtime laws, and following class action law for California employees,
will be free to fashion their own class action procedures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The strange part of the trial court’s decision in the <em>Duran</em> case
was it’s finding of a 95% certainty that each member of the class worked 11.86
overtime hours per week, subject to a relative margin of error of 43%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The logic of this statement is bizarre:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>95% certain that my conclusion is true about one-half the time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
predict the CA Supreme Court will not let this kind of statistical analysis
result in liability for the all class members, especially where the defense
sought to present 70 declarations from purported class members showing they
were not properly in the class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here is Wikiepedia’s short version of the major decision points in
crafting a survey sample to produce a reliable statistical analysis:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 1.2pt 19.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Defining the population of concern<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 1.2pt 19.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Specifying a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)#Sampling_frame"><span style="color: #0645ad;">sampling frame</span></a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mathematics)" title="Set (mathematics)"><span style="color: #0645ad;">set</span></a> of items or events possible to
measure<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 1.2pt 19.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Specifying a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)#Sampling_methods"><span style="color: #0645ad;">sampling method</span></a> for selecting items or
events from the frame<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 1.2pt 19.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Determining the sample size<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 1.2pt 19.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Implementing the sampling plan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 1.2pt 19.2pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sampling and data collecting<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 18pt; margin: 4.8pt 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)"><span style="color: blue;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)</span></a></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: small;">In conclusion, I’m 95% certain that I have about a 50% chance of
picking the outcome of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Duran</i>
appeal.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-73315892617189074112012-09-17T18:40:00.001-07:002012-09-17T18:40:15.600-07:00The Censor: He Has a Face, and He is Us. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdvg0pVUAHvm9injix67vXyn_oAZjyye4UUEWJVejJ8e7q4Qqsl3jq-oV3YizalCNkDHzpyCJG_rlRoXC1J93esNGjAQ9EO08iuSLMwWgf6-NX-cBbdhRJ3dJ09xOS3SYkEea/s1600/SocialMedia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdvg0pVUAHvm9injix67vXyn_oAZjyye4UUEWJVejJ8e7q4Qqsl3jq-oV3YizalCNkDHzpyCJG_rlRoXC1J93esNGjAQ9EO08iuSLMwWgf6-NX-cBbdhRJ3dJ09xOS3SYkEea/s1600/SocialMedia.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Face to Face: Social Media and the Masks We Share</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">For those intrepid few who dare
to express themselves as indiscreetly as the English language will allow, there
is AB 1844, soon to be officially Labor Code Section 980 et seq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The California legislature has come to the
protection of persons too dense, too indifferent, too rich, too independent or
too eccentric to give a damn what they post on social media. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, it also has provided protection
for even the cautious citizen who has no personality to hide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one, not even someone whose greatest
contribution to public debate is how to cook vegetables, should be required to
give up his username and password to a meddling employer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In the early days of social media,
I think there was an illusion that a person could be “real” in that environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The illusion is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to be real, transparent, and open,
well, it turns out the old fashioned friends who actually meet over dinner or
shared activities may be the answer after all. <u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Did we once hope that social
media would provide that open intellectual space where viewpoints had room to
breathe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, we soon were jolted from
our dream by investigators who actively rooted out contrarian or offensive viewpoints
to deny us employment or decline our membership applications.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But I sense the communal censor
has grown stronger over the years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
golden age of naïve Facebook users produced some colorful and interesting narcissists.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It still does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most people have learned at this point
that “image control” and “job protection” or “career management” involve either
putting nothing on social media, or only the most bland and boring of
information that will assure you that coveted status of “safe,” “normal,” and “employable.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The social mask we wear now must expand to cover
a face the size of Facebook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe LinkedIn was always the final resting
place of the “social” self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In the work environment, “punished”
most often means fired. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Freedom of
speech” does not exist in non-public work environments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Employers with “open door” and “open
communication” policies routinely punish employees criticizing a manager or
company practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In healthy and innovative work environments, wild,
jarring and “indelicately” expressed ideas may actually be encouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas, in many other places the free
expression of an idea will likely cost your job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what if the “speech” occurs outside the
workplace, after work hours, and states strong negative employee opinions about
the employer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a phrase:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>what are an employee’s privacy rights?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A lot has been written on this
topic of “social media privacy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will
not rewrite it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I will simply reference
the essential new developments created by some NLRB rulings and AB 1844.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The National Labor Relations Board in May
2012 issued Memorandum OM 12-59 that traces the NLRB rulings, and provides a “model”
social media policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The concern of the
NLRB appears to be primarily that social media restrictions can be overbroad in
limiting “concerted activity” among workers to address grievances at work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
posted the complete “Office of the General Counsel” memorandum for your reading
pleasure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It includes a very useful
model policy that General Counsel states is NLRA compliant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Labor Code Section 980(a)-(e)
will prohibit an employer from requiring the employee to access the employee’s
social media in the employer’s presence, or to provide the employer with the
employee’s username or password to a social media site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Section 980(e) is an anti-retaliation
provision to protect employees who resist illegal employer demands that violate
Section 980.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The remedies for a Section 980 violation appear to be a
general civil cause of action for violation of the statute, and quite likely a
common law right to proceed with a “wrongful termination in violation of public
policy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Section 2 of the new statute states
that the Labor Commissioner has no duty to investigate or determine if a violation
has occurred, leading me to conclude that there is no “exhaustion of
administrative remedies” requirement of the employee, who may proceed by direct
civil action for the full measure of tort damages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Here is the full text of the NLRB General Counsel's Opinion Memorandum: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/106194795/Social-Media-Use-Policy-for-Employees-N-L-R-B-Model-Guidelines" target="_blank">Memorandum OM 12-59 Office of the General Counsel</a> .</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Here is the full text of AB-1844, soon to be CA Labor Code Sec. 980: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/106193304/Social-Media-CA-AB-1844-LC-980" target="_blank">California Legislative Information: AB-1844 Social Media Privacy</a></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-47194447777599372572012-09-03T12:03:00.003-07:002012-09-03T12:03:46.697-07:00The Applicant: A Poem by Slyvia Plath<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-40492746964259428112012-08-15T11:33:00.001-07:002012-08-15T11:35:41.538-07:00Abolish the Employment "At-Will" Rule? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-1070813768206004172012-08-13T15:18:00.002-07:002012-08-13T15:18:41.095-07:00THE BATTLE OF THE PUGNACIOUS PUGILISTIC PENAL CODE SECTIONS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In Employment Law cases, a disgruntled employee,
anticipating the need to prove some aspect of the case, will secretly record a
conversation with an employer.<span> </span>The
employee then sees an attorney, discloses that the recording has been made, and
proudly announces that it is proof of the misconduct by the employer. The Plaintiff’s
attorney only groans.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Witness the battle of the Penal Code sections. In one
corner, Penal Code § 632 prohibits the recording of a confidential
communication without the consent of the parties. In the other corner, Penal
Code § 632 (c) permits the use of a recording where the communication is made
in a public gathering or in other circumstances where confidentiality could not
reasonably be expected.<span> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
May a secretly recorded conversation ever be used in a court
as evidence? The answer is “sometimes.” If the statement is used for
impeachment purposes, exposing that the other party is committing perjury, or
something resembling perjury, courts have permitted the criminally procured statement
to be admitted. The idea is that the policy against perjury outweighs the
policy against secret recordings.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Of course a sticky issue arises where discovery asks for all
recordings in the possession or custody of the employee [or employer]. The
employer, if it acts quickly, can obtain the identity and fact of the
recording, and therefore alert its witnesses to avoid any lying on the witness
stand. Further, the employer can use the secret recording as basis to assert an
“affirmative defense” cutting off damages [“after-acquired evidence rule”] from
the date it discovers that the secret recording was made.<span> </span>Therefore, the Plaintiff’s attorney should
quickly take the deposition of the defense witnesses in the hope that their
inconsistencies can be exposed by the secret recording before it is necessary
to identify the recording.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In any event, counsel should never participate in a criminal
activity of encouraging or condoning the use of a secret recording in the
workplace.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
See generally <i>Fria v.
Superior Court</i> (1988) 203 Cal. App. 3rd 1480 and <i>People v. Crow</i> (1994) 28 Cal. App. 4<sup>th</sup> 440.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com" www.http:="www.http:"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-49069494869685443602012-08-13T15:14:00.001-07:002012-08-13T15:14:07.734-07:00TRAGIC CASE BRINGS HOME THAT O.C. JURIES CARE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Over the years, Orange County juries have developed a
reputation for being tightfisted with money. That reputation is undeserved. It
simply means that our juries require sufficient evidence to support a large
verdict. There been a number of the very substantial verdicts coming out of
Orange County. A recent one is $38.6
million awarded to a man who suffered serious brain injury when falling off a
Newport Beach hotel balcony. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
No one witnessed the accident. The man was intoxicated at
the time he fell off the balcony. The balcony rail was 8 inches lower than that
required by California safety regulations. The plaintiff’s attorney represented
to the jury immediately that his client was drunk, but that he was attempting
to return to his room. He was not breaking the law at the time. The defendant
apparently thought that the man's intoxication would result in most of the
blame being placed on the plaintiff. The defendant focused on the bad behaviors
of the plaintiff. That strategy apparently backfired.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The case was heard in Orange County Superior Court (Santa
Ana) before Judge Charles Margines, and is entitled <i>Von Norman v. Newport Channel Inn</i>, 30–2010–00423312. Verdict date:
7-26-12.</div>
<br />
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com" www.http:="www.http:"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:>
</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-48955496371790841152012-08-13T15:09:00.001-07:002012-08-13T15:09:50.708-07:00PUTTING THE BRAKES ON RUNAWAY DEPOSITIONS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A proposed law would change the time to complete a
deposition from unlimited duration to 7 hours. Currently the law requires the
party objecting to the length of the deposition to suspend the deposition and
to seek a protective order.</div>
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The new law would allow the parties to stipulate to a longer
time of deposition if the nature of the case warranted. The idea is to stop
abusive and wasteful interrogations. Interestingly, employment cases are
excluded from the proposed legislation as a class of cases. See Assembly Bill
1875 seeking to amend CCP § 2025.010.</div>
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<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="employeelaw" infostripe.com="infostripe.com" www.http:="www.http:"><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-31462557059106077092012-07-23T23:43:00.000-07:002012-07-23T23:44:59.363-07:00$8.5 million Awarded in LA Superior for "Failure to Accommodate" a Disability<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span _mce_style="color: #7e534b;" style="color: #7e534b;"></span><br />
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span _mce_style="color: #7e534b;" style="color: #7e534b;">$8.5
million has been awarded an Employee who worked at an oil refinery. In
2005, the Employee hurt her knee while working as a Shift Supervisor.
Thereafter, the Employer assigned her to a desk job position because of
her knee problems.</span></div>
<span _mce_style="color: #7e534b;" style="color: #7e534b;">
</span><br />
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span _mce_style="color: #7e534b;" style="color: #7e534b;"><br /></span></div>
<span _mce_style="color: #7e534b;" style="color: #7e534b;">
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
When
another Company acquired the Refinery, the Company changed the
Employee's duties, and she was required to go on a medical leave of 22
months. The Employer ultimately terminated her for failure to appear for
work in her new job capacity.</div>
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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The
Employee claimed that she should have been allowed to continue in her
desk job. The Employer claimed that she had been given adequate
opportunity to recover, and that she could not perform the essential
functions of the job. Employer also claimed that she was unqualified for
the other jobs that she sought within the company.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Some observations:</div>
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<br /></div>
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1)
The verdict came out of the Central District for Los Angeles County
Superior Court. This venue is known to produce high verdicts.</div>
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<br /></div>
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2) Big does not necessarily mean better or more effective. The defense law firm in the case was Fulbright and Jaworski.</div>
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<br /></div>
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3)
The previous Owner/Employer was able to "accommodate" the Employee for a
period of time in her desk job probably lead the jury to believe that
the new Employer could do the same.</div>
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
4)
The new Employer's changing of the Employee's job duties seems to be a
self-serving excuse to find a way to eliminate the Employee's position,
that is, to eliminate the previous Employer's "accommodation."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div _mce_style="color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<em>Source:
"Daily Journal Verdicts and Settlements" Friday, July 20, 2012, page 5, <u>Michelle Daniel v. Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company</u>, Case
BC383531. Verdict: June 21, 2012.</em></div>
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<br /></div>
</span>"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-18960484712151045632012-07-23T16:26:00.000-07:002012-07-23T16:26:10.293-07:00YOU DECIDE: SHOULD THE PREVAILING PARTY BE ENTITLED TO ATTORNEY'S FEES?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><span _mce_style="font-size: 11pt;" style="font-size: 11pt;"><div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: justify; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">
Nearly
all states follow the "American Rule" that unless the parties agree, or
a statute provides for fees, each side is to bear its own fees in
litigation without regard to victory. Some States, and a large number
of nations follow the "English Rule" of the losing party paying the fees
of the winner. As you consider your vote, here are some "pros" and
"cons" of changing the current "American Rule."</div>
<div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
Case for keeping the Rule:</div>
<ol>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The "little guy" with few finances faces financial ruin if he loses. Not so with the wealthy or corporations.</li>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
incentive to select meritorious cases is already in place because the
contingency fee system places much of the burden of losing (and going
unpaid) on the contingency fee lawyer, who therefore selects meritorious
cases as a matter of self-preservation. </li>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Socially
beneficial verdicts result from the gamble that a long shot case may
pay-off big, and the verdict send a message to other offenders to change
their ways.</li>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
fear of losing will be greater for persons with fewer assets (i.e.,
usually individuals taking on wealthy corporations), resulting in
settlements that are driven not by justice or principle, but higher
financial costs. </li>
</ol>
<div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
Case for dumping the Rule:</div>
<ol>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A
party paying hourly fees to an attorney may have to pay much more in
fees than the amount to eventually settle the case or pay the verdict.</li>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
prospect of paying not only your attorney, but also the other attorney
has a sobering affect for settlement, and sharpens the cost-benefit
analysis, thus producing more settlements earlier in the process. </li>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
original public policy behind the 'American Rule' of encouraging easy
access to the courts no longer applies in an age of diminishing court
budgets and congested calendars. </li>
<li _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">People
who are angry and want vengeance through litigation may have a moment
of religion when they calculate the increased costs. Thus, smaller cases
initially driven by negative non-economic factors may now drop out of
the system. </li>
</ol>
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<br /></div>
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Please take a moment and let me know how you come down on this issue. I'll report the responses in our next edition. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<a _mce_href="http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e66iftrmh505lb09/start" _mce_style="color: #007da1; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e66iftrmh505lb09/start" linktype="1" style="color: rgb(0, 125, 161) ! important; text-decoration: underline ! important;" target="_blank" track="on">Take Survey!</a> </div>
<div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div _mce_style="font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: black; text-align: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" style="color: black; font-family: Century Gothic,ITC Avant Garde,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-39537512157804750532012-07-03T11:19:00.001-07:002012-07-03T11:19:37.868-07:00ABSOLUTELY MAYBE: THE NEW WORK PRODUCT PRIVILEGEThe California Supreme Court has provided a clarification to the question: can a party obtain the statements taken from witnesses in a case where those statements are procured by the opposing counsel? Stated technically, the question is whether the statements are protected from production under the attorney work product privilege?
<br /><br />
The case reviewed by the Supreme Court was one involving a drowning. There were 4 witnesses to the drowning, and the defendant, the State of California, at the direction of its attorney, obtained recorded statements of all witnesses. The attorney for the parents of the deceased child made a motion to obtain those recorded statements. The trial court denied the request, and the Court of Appeal reversed. The Supreme Court in turn reversed the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court remanded the matter to the trial court to make a determination which parts of the statements were “absolutely privileged” pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2018.030.
<br /><br />
It is at this point, in my opinion, that the “clarification” is not so clear. If you use the phrase “absolutely privileged” you muddy the waters by asking further: “Which parts of the statements are “absolutely privileged?” The “problem” arises from the language of Section 2018.030 itself. The “absolute privilege” applies only to a “writing that reflects an attorney’s impressions, conclusions, opinions, our legal research or theories.” The age-old problem is the choice of questions: A trained attorney does not ask random questions. The questions are usually intended to elicit information that goes to specific issues in the case, or specific tactical decisions regarding proof or defenses. Yet, all of those “thoughts” can only be implied from the subtext of the statements.
<br /><br />
The Supreme Court ventured to give an example of when an attorney's “thought processes” would not be part of the statement taking procedure. It gave the example of a car accident in which the attorney sent out an investigator, with no direction or instruction, and the investigator asked very few questions, simply allowing witnesses to say what they saw or heard.
<br /><br />
Every attorney should read this decision for a comprehensive background on the development and refinement of the attorney work product privilege. The decision generally tends to favor the application of the privilege. I would think that usually any supporting declaration of counsel opposing a motion to compel production will include the procuring attorneys statement that the statement was taken under his direction, and was crafted in accordance with his planning of his case or his defense. In any event, there will be rare situations in which the information cannot be procured by any other reasonable method. In those cases, the court still has discretion to require production of the statements unless the party seeking the statements has failed to act with diligence to obtain information independently.
<br /><br />"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br /><http://www.http://infostripe.com/employeelaw><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-5066583821165732342012-07-03T11:18:00.000-07:002012-07-03T11:18:00.178-07:00“Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News. I’ve Got A Sad Case of Overtime Blues.” – Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp (June 18 2012) 2012 DJDAR 8040Outside sales persons are generally exempt from the overtime laws. The question becomes what is a true “outside salesperson”. For one class of workers, pharmaceutical sales reps, the U.S. Supreme Court has provided the answer. At least as far as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), outside sales reps in the pharmaceutical industry are exempt from overtime. Interesting to me is that the Court based its holding on the most “reasonable” interpretation of the Department of Labor's regulations. In doing so, it disregarded what the Department of Labor itself said was its actual interpretation. The implication is that “changing interpretations” that shift with the political winds are not entitled to deference by the Supreme Court. The DOL argued that because a pharmaceutical rep cannot by law make a direct sale to a physician, he or she is not a true “salesperson”. The Supreme Court took more practical approach saying that the “sale” was a process that was considerably more broad and flexible than an actual signed purchase agreement.
<br /><br />
There may be a host of outside representatives who are part of the “sales process” but who do not close the sale with a signed document. This U.S. Supreme Court decision may limit the opportunity of persons not involved in the actual sale of the object or service to obtain overtime pay. For example, what about the highly technical person who provide sales support for the salesperson in the field during a PowerPoint presentation to a customer? Or, what about the salesperson himself or herself who is part of the sales team, but not the specific person who “closes the deal?” In the pharmaceutical industry, the sales rep usually obtains a “nonbinding commitment” from the medical provider. The Supreme Court considered this kind of commitment close enough to a “sale” to bring the employee within the “outside sales” exemption.
<br /><br />
The Supreme Court decision will provide guidance in the interpretation by California courts of California overtime law. However, California is permitted to establish more liberal overtime pay regulations. Therefore, the decision is not precedent binding on California courts concerning California wage law.
<br />
<br />"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br /><http://www.http://infostripe.com/employeelaw><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-90250154688751831482012-06-29T14:55:00.003-07:002012-06-29T14:55:45.893-07:00CREATIVE CAREER PATH AMBIGUITY: BE ADAPTABLE<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iPxsYhCI7T8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
TARGET AN UNMET NEED. FOCUS ON "NEEDS" NOT JUST "PRODUCTS/SERVICES."
LOOK TO YOUR UNIQUE STRENGTHS TO ANSWER: AND CAN I FILL THAT NEED BETTER/FASTER THAN MY PEERS/COMPETITORS?
STEP BACK OR SIDEWAYS IN ORDER TO GROW--I.E., RE-EVALUATE YOUR APPROACHES & PATTERNS--ARE THEY WORKING?
LET YOUR STRATEGY EMERGE--GO WITH THE FLOW AND BE FLEXIBLE--IN AN UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENT, YOU CAN'T SEE FAR DOWN THE ROAD, BUT THAT'S OK.
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12024161.post-9367107445395799762012-06-05T09:21:00.000-07:002012-06-05T10:20:50.262-07:00A Solo Employment Lawyer Does Some Heavy Macro-Economic Lifting.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What does the European financial crisis have to do with
employment law? That is somewhat
like asking what does unemployment have to do with employment law. The issues remain the same, but the
volume and context will change. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here’s a novice's view of economics involving only three
dominoes: 1) the European Central
Bank does not intervene in the next 3 to 6 months to aggressively free up money
in the European markets so Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and France
can manage their debt; 2) the European Union collapses; and 3) the world moves
into a 5 year economic depression.
An extreme and far-fetched scenario? Irrelevant to your personal bread and butter issues? “No” to both questions. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Last week, even as he floated bonds on the open market, the
Treasury Minister of Spain said Spain was shut out of the private money markets
by high interest rates—in effect, the premium attached to the high risk Spain
would default on its debt. Spain
is Europe’s fourth largest economy.
Spain and Greece have lousy histories overall of repaying their “sovereign
debt,” that is, government owned debt that it sells to foreign investors to be
repaid in U.S. currency. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This “going to market” approach won’t work for countries
like Greece, Italy and Spain, where investors see that the electorate, fat on
social programs, rebel against new austerity programs. Logically, foreign investors see the
risk is too high. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We are now at an economic cross-roads. In the window of about 3 to 6 months,
the European Central Bank, together with the International Monetary Fund and
the European Commission, will take the necessary aggressive interventionist
steps to increase the influx of euros into the monetary system and to guarantee
deposits in member banks, or the European Union will not just fail, it will
disintegrate. I know, this sounds
like “the sky is falling!” but in the ripple effect of the economy, ask how
many of your personal acquaintances have remained long term unemployed and how
many have been “upside down” for how long, and still living in their homes even
as the banks carry the inventory of defaulted mortgages?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The European Debt Crisis has been a “continuous crisis” for
nearly three years. The current
phase is just that—a worsening of the continuing situation. There have been 5 new governments
elected in Europe in 18 months.
Portugal’s will be the sixth this month. Each new government is elected make the electorate “feel
better,” that is, relieve them of the hardships of economic austerity
measures. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So there’s the set-up to a bad joke: Socialist governments are being elected
in a time when strong capitalistic measures are needed. Add to the mix that after three years of squeamish intervention, time is about to run out. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If the European Union does not manage the crisis now, its
reason for being will cease. It
was to be a unified, central economy.
If it cannot perform that function for its member states, the members
will leave the Union, or be ejected.
Multiply “Spain” by 12 to 18, to see the impact just one year. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Pulling the economic levers requires a strong and committed
central banking authority given the freedom to act quickly without a continuous
meeting of European leaders. That
mechanism is in place through the Central European Bank, that should act now to
provide quick liquidity to the system, while setting austerity measures that
are no so severe as to cause political uprisings. There will be plenty of personal economic pain to spread
over the next several generations.
</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Last month’s U.S. economic news was dismal, with indicators
we are going the wrong direction in the so-called “recovery.” The U.S. Treasury and Fed are again
saying more intervention is needed. At the same time, we are about to be hit with major tax
increases at the end of this year.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> All this spells
increasing unemployment, more layoffs, and more risk to the “marginal” that
they will be selected for layoff because of their age, gender, religion,
medical history, disability, race or national origin. Layoffs are legitimate economic responses to hard economic
times, but they are also covers for the practice of “cleaning house” of persons
in “protected categories.” I can live without the extra business.
Let’ s pray the E.U. acts decisively for the good of all in the next few
months. </span></div>
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<br />
"If the pink slip doesn't fit,
get redressed!"<br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><a href="http://infostripe.com/employeelaw">Social Media</a> to see my complete social "pink slip" wardrobe.</http:><br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><br /></http:><br />
<http: employeelaw="" infostripe.com="" www.http:=""><br /></http:></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://www.jobattorney.net "Fighting for the Little Guy"</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00737167045894488165noreply@blogger.com0