California Labor Law—What’s New for 2011

January 11th, 2011. By janem

Here are a few California labor law perks for 2011. The U.S. Department of Labor decrees that employers grant time off for women to express breast milk.  The DOL’s fact sheet is posted here. Male workers are wondering if there is any legislative effort in the works to regarding equal rights in this area…they could always donate an organ and take time off.

SB 1304 provides new leave of absence rights to organ and bone marrow donors. Organ donors may take up to 30 days leave for that purpose and bone marrow donors may take up to five days leave for that purpose. The leaves are with full pay and benefits, except that the employer may require the organ donor to use up to two weeks accrued vacation/sick time and the bone marrow donor to use up to five days vacation/sick time unless doing so would violate a collective bargaining agreement.

Donors are entitled to the same or equivalent jobs when returning from leave. Further, these leave rights are independent of any rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the California Family Rights Act.

If you can’t stand the heat, as of Nov 4, 2010 the California Labor Commissioner issued new heat illness regulations, enforceable by CAL-OSHA, that apply to all outdoor places of employment, especially where the temperature exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Employees must be provided with shade sufficient to accommodate 25 percent of the workforce at one time, cool down periods of no less than five minutes in the shade upon request, as well as one quart of potable drinking water per hour worked.

“High heat” procedures (where the temperature reaches at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit) apply only to agriculture, construction, landscaping, oil and gas extraction, and transportation or delivery of agricultural products, construction materials or other heavy materials except for employment that consists of operating an air-conditioned vehicle and does not include loading or unloading. The new regs are posted here.

Unemployed rail workers are hopeful that California’s high-speed rail project will get the go-ahead; if so it will create thousands of jobs. The “Good Jobs Express Tour” ended, after three days and 400 miles, in Sacramento, where construction trades members rallied with the iron workers to make the case for high-speed rail and candidates, like Jerry Brown, who support it.

When Is Lunch Time?  AB 569 amends California Labor Code Sec. 512 to exempt construction workers, commercial drivers, certain security officers and employees of electrical and gas corporations or local publicly owned electric utilities from California’s meal period requirements if those employees are covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement containing specified terms—including meal period—overtime and arbitration provisions.

Have you been misclassified as an independent contractor?

California, among a number of other states, has arranged information-sharing with the IRS in the area of contractor classification. The goal is that incorrect contractor classification will probably be detected and challenged with more frequency. Among the concerns for an employer who engages independent contractors is that the classification, if valid, can avoid a lot of employment and tax regulation. But at the same time, contractor classification can be a hot tamale for litigation by multiple government agencies and workers.

By now everyone knows that you can’t light that joint at work. California Proposition 19 was rejected, which means that employers may lawfully ban all marijuana use, and being under the influence of marijuana, at work. However, California law permits medicinal marijuana use prescribed by a physician.

And one more: Under the FMLA  an employee who assumes the role of caring in loco parentis (in place of the parent) for a child  receives parental rights to family leave regardless of the legal or biological relationship. The U.S. Department of Labor gives this example: an aunt who cares for a young niece and nephew when their single parent has been called to active military duty or a grandfather who assumes responsibility for his sick grandchild when his own child is unable to care for the child. Also, an employee who intends to share parenting responsibilities with his or her same-sex partner will be able to seek FMLA leave to bond with their child.

The above are just a handful of changes in store for 2011. California employers are advised to review and update employee handbooks and personnel practices, and train supervisors, with the advice of experienced employment counsel or human resources professionals, or a labor law attorney.

Thinking about Law School? Eavesdrop on this…

January 11th, 2011. By AbiK

In case you missed this one when it first came out, listen in…

The Risk of Sleepy Surgeons

January 11th, 2011. By Hunter West

There was a study recently that demonstrated sleepy drivers were just as careless, just as accident-prone and just as dangerous as people who were driving drunk. Sleep deprivation, the researchers found, was just as much an impairment as being high on alcohol. 

So what about doctors? What about surgeons? 

An editorial that came out December 30^th in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) makes that same point for medical professionals. To wit, sleepy doctors are potentially as impaired as drunken doctors. 

It’s something, as patients, we never think about. But think about it—how many times have you been caught yawning on the job? How many times have you nodded off at the computer? How many times have you had to pull over while driving endless miles along a highway, in order to catch a bit of rest because you feel yourself nodding off? 

Should we not assume that surgeons are capable of the same sleepiness? 

The concern is certainly warranted, according to the authors of the NEJM editorial. And one can certainly understand the issue. As an example, a surgeon who has not slept all night following emergency bowel surgery throughout the wee hours is seen scrubbing up for an elective colostomy at nine the following morning. 

Pretty scary thought, huh? 

The editorial authors say that sleepy surgeons should not be allowed to operate without a patient’s Read the rest of this entry »

“I Find People” says Investigative Attorney Charles Eric Gordon

January 10th, 2011. By BrendaC

Lawyers Giving Back looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we’re talking with attorney Charles Gordon…

Attorney Charles-Eric Gordon: The Lawyer Lawyers Turn To to Find People

If you’ve ever existed, investigative attorney Charles Gordon can find you. Not only that, he teaches other lawyers how to find you, too!

He’s an expert in the art of ‘Skip Tracing’—which is, rather like it sounds, the business of tracking down witnesses, debtors or former spouses who “skip” out on obligations—or, they could be missing heirs to estates, or they just need to be found for some other legal reason.

Attorney Charles Eric Gordon

 

Gordon’s a Brooklyn Law School-educated attorney, but as he’ll tell you, “I haven’t litigated a case as the attorney of record in a long, long time. When I go to court it is as an expert witness. I’m an investigative attorney.”

The computer is a mighty sword in the search for those individuals who are missing pieces to legal puzzles. At his free workshops for the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyer Project he teaches people how to use Google or ancestry.com and search licensed databases to locate people.

“It is something I really enjoy doing,” says Gordon. “I get some insight—especially when the lawyers bring up questions from their own practices and I talk about how I would handle the issue.”

“I tell them the computer is important,” he adds, “but the internet isn’t everything.”

Gordon’s a bit of a charmer, too and in his business, that’s a definite plus. “Lawyers who want to learn how to find missing witnesses or heirs to estates have to “use the schmooze”. It’s a Yiddish expression,” says Gordon. “Basically, what I mean is get out there and talk to people, don’t just sit at the computer.”

“Is there a dry cleaner or a bodega in their old neighborhood where someone might remember what happened to them,” says Gordon. “Or maybe someone there might remember somebody who would know where they went.”

Gordon loves his job. And sometimes, when a lawyer comes to him struggling to find someone critical to a case, if it’s a worthy one, Gordon will hop on the case pro bono and get the work done.

In the early 1970s, as Gordon was graduating from university with an English degree (yes, there was another degree before this one) his career options were limited. “I started out working a debt collector. I became very good at finding debtors and setting up car repos. And I loved the chase,” says Gordon.

“You could say I’ve carved a little niche for myself,” says Gordon, sitting in his sunny office on 7^th Avenue in New York. He’s got a collection of phone books going back to the early 1900s—one of the artful tools in his people-finding kit. “Sometimes people will say something like, my uncle lived on a street with an animal name, but I can’t remember it.”

“I flip through the phone book and find Zebra Lane or Dromedary Street,” says Gordon. “I know where to start looking.”

As Gordon said, it’s an art.

Charles Gordon of Charles-Eric Gordon, Esq. specializes as investigative counsel serving the legal profession and real estate industries by locating missing heirs, legatees, beneficiaries, witnesses, debtors and defendant; especially those absentees missing for many years or about whom little information is known. Gordon also conducts investigations involving rent stabilization and rent control fraud by tenants and conduct asset investigations of judgment debtors. He serves as a consultant to private investigation firms and corporation counsel, and teaches continuing legal education courses on tracing missing persons and conducting landlord-tenant investigations.

Asbestos News Roundup: 1.7.11

January 7th, 2011. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of. An ongoing list of asbestos hot spots from the Asbestos News Roundup archive appears on our asbestos map.

Asbestos Settlements

Baltimore, MD: The family of forklift driver Daniel Edwards, who died from asbestos mesothelioma in 2008, have been awarded $2.4 million in damages, which will be reduced to $2.2 million under the Maryland cap on damages.

The family filed a wrongful death suit against Union Carbide, alleging that Daniel contracted mesothelioma lung cancer from moving bags of asbestos with a forklift for six years for National Gypsum, from the late 60s to the early 70s. Union Carbide mined and supplied the asbestos. The company allegedly failed to warn workers about the risks of asbestos exposure.

In the suit Daniel’s children and his estate claimed that Union Carbide had information on the link between asbestos and mesothelioma as early as 1967, two years before he began working at National Gypsum. According to a report by the Maryland Daily Record, Union Carbide attorneys argued that it was National Gypsum’s responsibility to warn its workers of the dangers associated with asbestos. (MDdailyrecord.com)

Genesee County, MI: The Genesee County, Michigan, Community Action Recourse Department (GCCARD) has reportedly settled a lawsuit for $250,000 over a former worker’s asbestos claims, the Flint Journal reports.

Ray Barker II, who worked for the GCCARD for six months in 2009, claimed that the lives of workers and homeowners were endangered by weatherization work conducted by the group in Read the rest of this entry »