Education and Training Programs for Management, Supervisors and Staff

• Interviewing and selecting applicants for employment.
• Effective employee handbooks and personnel policies.
• How to avoid incurring overtime pay liability.
• Misclassification of employees as exempt employees or independent contractors.
• Leaves of absence and the interrelationship between disability, family and medical, and workers' compensation leaves.
• Sexual and other forms of workplace harassment, and how to prevent it.
• How to conduct an effective investigation of employee misconduct.
• Avoiding liability when disciplining, discharging, and terminating employees.

Counseling and Advice in Day-to-Day Matters

• Review and preparation of employee handbooks and personnel policies.
• Guidance regarding hiring, evaluating job performance, disciplining and terminating employees.
• Preparation of separation and severance agreements, including employee releases of claims.
• Making sense out of and complying with the sometimes overlapping and confusing federal and state leave laws, including the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the California Family Rights Act, the leave/reasonable accommodation aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and the Workers' Compensation law.
• Compliance with federal and state overtime laws, including exempt employee determinations.
• Compliance with anti-discrimination and equal employment opportunity laws.
• Preparation and implementation of comprehensive programs to avoid sexual and other forms of workplace harassment, including preparation of policies.
• Conducting employment law compliance audits.
• Dealing with employment issues arising out of the sale of a business.
• Preparation and implementation of detailed programs to deal with the protection of trade secrets and confidential information, and to prevent employees from engaging in unfair competition.

Types of Claims

• Sexual and other forms of workplace harassment.
• Discrimination (sex, race, age, disability, etc.).
• Retaliation and whistleblowing claims.
• Wrongful termination.
• Breach of Contract.
• Infliction of emotional distress.
• Defamation.
• Unfair competition.
• Theft of trade secrets.
• Unpaid overtime.
• Exempt/nonexempt employee issues.
• Negligent hiring.
• Workers' compensation discrimination.
• Compelling arbitration.
• Unfair labor practice charges.
• Union elections.

Courts and Administrative Agencies

• California trial and appellate courts.
• Federal trial and appellate courts throughout the country.
• The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• The United States Department of Labor.
• The National Labor Relations Board.
• The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
• The California Fair Employment and Housing Commission.
• The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
• The California Labor Commissioner.