California Employment Development Department Severance Pay, Dismissal or Separation Pay Severance pay is not wages for unemployment insurance purposes. There is no specific code section in the California Unemployment Insurance Code which declares that severance pay is not wages. We cite Section 1265 when we state that severance pay is not wages. The authority for […]
Category: Employment
FMLA interference and retaliation
The FMLA provides job security to employees who must be absent from work because of their own illnesses, to care for family members who are ill, or to care for new babies.” Bachelder v. America West Airlines, Inc., 259 F.3d 1112, 1119 (9th Cir. 2001) (citing 29 U.S.C. § 2612). Through the FMLA, “Congress made it unlawful for […]
Adverse employment action
CACI No. 2509. “Adverse Employment Action” Explained [Name of plaintiff] must prove that [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] was subjected to an adverse employment action. Adverse employment actions are not limited to ultimate actions such as termination or demotion. There is an adverse employment action if [name of defendant] has taken an action or engaged in a course […]
Damages under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act
A successful plaintiff under FEHA may recover the following: back pay (also referred to as back wages or lost earnings) (see Govt C §12965(c). Commodore Home Sys., Inc. v Superior Court (1982) 32 C3d 211.); front pay (or lost future earnings) to offset future pecuniary losses until he or she finds appropriate new employment; actual and general compensatory damages, including […]
Gender discrimination in the workplace
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) (as well as Title VII) makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, “because of the . . . sex . . . of any person, . . . to discriminate against the person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.” (Gov.Code § […]
Employee’s duty of loyalty to employer
California The duty of loyalty arises not from a contract but from a relationship-here, the relationship of principal and agent. Agency is “the fiduciary relationship that arises when one person (a `principal’) manifests assent to another person (an `agent’) that the agent shall act on the principal’s behalf and subject to the principal’s control, and […]
Intentional infliction of emotional distress (California and Colorado)
California A cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress exists when there is “`”`(1) extreme and outrageous conduct by the defendant with the intention of causing, or reckless disregard of the probability of causing, emotional distress; (2) the plaintiff’s suffering severe or extreme emotional distress; and (3) actual and proximate causation of the […]
Copyright protection for music compilations (9th Cir)
From Skidmore v. ZEPPELIN, 952 F. 3d 1051 – Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit 2020 I. THE 1909 COPYRIGHT ACT The world of copyright protection for music changed dramatically during the twentieth century and those changes dictate our analysis here. The baseline issue we address is the scope of Wolfe’s copyright in the unpublished composition […]
Financial whistle-blowing
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (as amended by the Dodd Frank Act), 15 U.S. Code §78u-6: Securities whistleblower incentives and protection…(h) Protection of whistleblowers (1) Prohibition against retaliation (A) In general No employer may discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, directly or indirectly, or in any other manner discriminate against, a whistleblower in the terms […]
WARN Act layoffs
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act helps ensure advance notice in cases of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs. The U.S. Department of Labor has compliance assistance materials to help workers and employers understand their rights and responsibilities under the provisions of WARN. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) protects workers, […]