Los Angeles, California Employment Law Blog

New employees with a criminal record may be breathing a sigh of relief after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidelines to employers when running background checks on new hires.

The current guidelines, as applied, have a disparate impact on minorities, particularly African American and Hispanic job seekers, because they are more likely to have a criminal record. This practice, in effect, discriminates based on race in hiring decisions, according to the EEOC.

Under the new guidelines, employers can no longer exclude an applicant simply because he or she has a criminal record. An employer must consider for what offense the applicant was convicted, the time elapsed since the conviction and whether the offense that resulted in conviction would have an impact on the potential employee's desired job.

Former Phoenix police detective and military veteran Mia Macy was offered a job as a ballistics technician at a California lab with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 2010. At that time, Macy was a man. During the time period that the agency was running a background check, Macy underwent the transition to live as a female.

Macy let her new employer know of the change and moved to the Bay Area with her wife. She was then told that the ATF position had been eliminated due to budget cuts but later found out that the job had been filled by another applicant. Macy filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2011, claiming gender discrimination.

In response to the growing trend of employers asking current and prospective employees for login information for personal social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, discussed previously on our employment law blog, California Assembly Member Nora Campos proposed AB 1844, a bill that would prohibit California employers from doing so. According to Campos, a user's personal profile should be left exactly that -- personal.

Access to current or prospective employees' personal information -- such as commentary, photographs, personal messages and even affiliations -- may increase the likelihood that an employer may intentionally or unintentionally commit employment discrimination in the hiring process.

The California State Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear the bill next Tuesday. If the Committee approves the bill, it will be sent to the full Assembly for consideration and vote.

Employers throughout California are required by law to provide meal breaks to hourly employees for every shift over five hours. But, the California Supreme Court recently ruled that if an employee chooses to work through his or her meal break, the employer has met its duty by simply giving the worker the opportunity to take a meal break.

For an employer to have met his or her duty to provide meal breaks, an employee must be allowed to:

• Take an uninterrupted, 30-minute break
• Leave the premises if he or she chooses, and
• Be free from any work requirements during that time period

An employee who works through his or her meal time must be paid for that time as normal or "straight pay," unless the additional time takes the employee over 40 hours a week, into overtime pay. As a penalty to employers who don't allow the required 30-minute break at all, employees who are not allowed to take 30-minute break are entitled to a full hour's worth of pay.

African American startups received less than 1 percent of all venture capital investments in 2010, compared to about 87 percent going to white startups, according to a report from CB Insights. That statistic has led many to wonder why there aren't more minorities in the tech industry.

Is it because African American's tend to self-segregate, forgoing networking opportunities by staying within an ethnically-based community, as suggested by University of Connecticut professor Maya Beasley? Is it that the focus in the black community has been on confronting civil rights issues rather than economics when choosing a profession, according to one African American strategy consultant with over a decade of experience working in venture capital funding. Is it that historically black colleges don't put enough emphasis on technology education, but focus on more traditional careers?

Or is it fundamentally simpler than that? Are African Americans experiencing discrimination based on race in the tech industry? Yes, according to Mitch Kapor, founder of Kapor Capital, the tech industry has its own set of cultural biases that make it difficult for African Americans to break into the tech sector.

Bononi Law Group, LLP is so pleased to announce the arrival of our new associate, Sonya Paskil. We are looking forward to working with her and are confident she will be an excellent addition to our firm.

Dossat vs. Hoffman-La Roche, et. al., 2:09-CV-00245-KJD-PAL

Las Vegas, Nevada - March 12, 2012 -- The law offices of Esteban-Trinidad Law in Las Vegas, Nevada and Bononi Law Group, LLC, in Los Angeles today announced that a federal jury in the United States District Court of Nevada unanimously rendered a verdict awarding their client Randy Dossat $1,868,000.00 on his claims for retaliation in the workplace and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Employers have the responsibility to stay alert to employment law changes and modify any policies that do not comply with federal and state laws. The fashion industry, however, continues to show signs that they're far behind in protecting models. As independent contractors for fashion designers, it's sometimes unclear for the employer how to treat the models under the law, but it's becoming increasingly clear that further regulation may be needed to prevent grievous harm.

Industry insiders have long said that the fashion industry hires underage models who are seriously underweight. The models are not often paid for the overtime hours that they work and models under age 18 work much later than California employment laws allow. Many former models have also spoken out about the rampant sexual harassment that is prevalent throughout the international fashion industry.