San Diego Employment Law Attorney Blog

Social media has certainly had an effect on employment law issues over the past few years as more individuals use social media websites on a daily basis for personal and professional purposes. Celebrities and professional athletes have lost contracts as a result of their comments on Facebook and Twitter, and lawsuits have been filed by employees who have lost their jobs or been denied jobs as a result of what employers discovered on these social media sites. But can employees and potential employees in California and throughout the entire U.S. be disciplined or fired for their "private" comments on social media sites?

A recent worldwide study by DLA Piper Shift revealed that 30 percent of the employers surveyed had used disciplinary actions against employees, including firing employees, for their activities on social media sites. With the average American spending about 16 hours a month on Facebook, and approximately half of them visiting the site every day, more workers could be at risk of losing their jobs over the use of social media.

California employees have important rights that should be protected in the workplace, but businesses do make mistakes that could result in the violation of these rights.

Earlier this week on our San Diego employment law blog, we began discussing some common mistakes employers may make without realizing that they are breaking state and federal employment and labor laws. However, employees can learn more about their rights in order to ensure that their employers are in compliance with these laws.

We already discussed the importance of making sure that workers are properly classified as employees or contract workers for tax, withholding and overtime pay purposes. Today we will discuss four other mistakes that commonly lead to the violation of an employee's rights in the workplace.

State and federal employment and labor laws can certainly be complex and difficult to keep up with because of constant changes, but it is the responsibility of all employers in San Diego and throughout the entire state of California to make sure that their policies conform to current laws and that these policies are enforced in the workplace.

Although a company may not intentionally violate an employee's rights, employees in California should not be afraid to stand up for their rights or to raise awareness about employment law issues if they believe that an employer's practices are not in compliance with state and federal laws.

According to an advisor for an online legal service, employers are susceptible to making common mistakes when they do not understand employment and labor laws. When these mistakes are made, an employer is certainly violating the law, but they may also be able to get away with their actions if employees do not understand their own rights.

Can employees in the U.S. be fired for not showing up to work while they do their civic duty of reporting to jury duty? Although many states do protect employees' jobs while they are called to serve jury duty, one woman recently filed a lawsuit against her employer claiming that she was fired after she was selected as a jury member for a trial.

The 49-year-old woman has cited wrongful termination in her lawsuit against the real estate title company she was fired from last month. However, her former employer claims that they fired the woman because she was not performing her job well during her probationary period.

If you have been reading our San Diego employment law blog for awhile now, you may have realized that sexual harassment in the workplace and other violations of employees' rights happen all too often. In many cases, employees continue to return to a hostile work environment because they do not understand their rights or because they are afraid to speak up about the wrongdoings of a manager.

However, employees need to understand that they are protected by many state and federal laws in California. They can use these laws to their advantage to make sure that an employer is held accountable for violating the rights of employees and to protect other employees from being discriminated against, harassed or wrongfully terminated in the future.

After claiming that the work environment at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Chula Vista, California, became too difficult to endure, four female employees recently announced that they are filing a lawsuit against the company and a male supervisor citing sexual harassment.

A complaint has been filed by two former employees in California against a car dealership they used to work for. Allegations include sexual harassment toward the employees, as well as other workers, from employers. Numerous other alleged violations against the rights of employees have also been exposed in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that the employer, AutoNation, behaved inappropriately toward workers based on their disability, sex, sexual orientation and weight. The lawsuit also accused the employer of behaving inappropriately toward those who took family leave under the California Family Rights Act and toward those who stuck up for the rights of their co-workers who were allegedly being treated poorly.

Those who are looking for jobs this New Year in California may be relieved to know that companies can no longer check the credit reports of job applicants unless the position with the company meets specific requirements. This not only means that more applicants may have a greater chance of landing the jobs they want this year, but it may also ensure better privacy protections for potential employees.

Employers in many states run credit reports on job applicants as part of the background check process. Unfortunately, these reports don't always give applicants a fair shot at getting hired because employers may assume that one's poor credit history indicates that the individual is not responsible or trustworthy. Credit reports also might disclose one's private information such as going through a divorce, losing one's house to foreclosure or medical concerns.

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued UC San Diego Medical Center for employment discrimination against noncitizens legally entitled to work in the U.S. The court action was based on a complaint by an employee who is not a U.S. citizen, but possesses a green card, signifying permanent residency status entitling the individual to work in the U.S.

According to the lawsuit, the woman said that UCSD threatened her in December of 2010 stating that she would be terminated if she didn't show the employer proof of her legal right to work, despite the fact that she had already provided UCSD with the documentation when she was initially hired.

The lawsuit alleges that noncitizens working at UCSD were required to show different documents compared to employees who were U.S. citizens to prove their identities and legal right to work. However, federal law requires that employers impose the same documentation requirements on citizens and noncitizens.