When an employer offers a dismissed employee a severance agreement, the payment of money, continued benefits or some other consideration is almost always conditioned on the employee “giving up” certain rights.  The…

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was amended in 1978 to include the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (“PDA”).  The PDA protects pregnant persons from being discriminated against by their employers because of…

Since many terminated and current employees ask about it, I thought I might dive into the treacherous waters of defamation in the workplace.  Defamatory conduct in the workplace may occur, for example,…

In the realm of workplace defamation claims, the aggrieved employee (or plaintiff) needs to show that the slanderous (spoken) or libelous (written) comments harmed the reputation of the employee.  There are five…

There are four common defenses to defamation claims: privilege, consent, truth and opinion.  This entry will discuss the most widely employed defense to workplace defamation claims – absolute and qualified privileges. Absolute…

One of the key provisions of FMLA/CFRA leave is the right to reinstatement to the same or comparable position after the leave. A “comparable position” is defined as a position which is…

There is no California or federal law, which requires employers to provide employees with vacation time.  Nonetheless, if the employer does provide vacation time, certain provisions of the California Labor Code must…

A vexing question for employees who have been hurt, been in an accident, or who suffer from a temporary medical condition is whether their employer is required to provide a reasonable accommodation…