California's "Sue Your Boss" Law Announcing a New Guide With Over 100 Labor Issues Ready for Lawsuits

California's "Sue Your Boss" Law In this corner ... "Expands the grounds by which employers can be sued by private attorneys, increasing the risks of hiring employees, increasing insurance costs, increasing attorney fees, increasing costs of settlements, raising costs to consumers, making the employer less competitive, killing jobs." [California Chamber of Commerce] and in the other corner ... "The growing state budget virtually guarantees that no new enforcement staff will be hired. There must be a way to enforce labor laws without further relying on state resources. Recognizing that the State cannot be everywhere, this bill would help crack down on the underground economy and other scofflaw employers, and enhance needed revenue to our State by prescribing civil penalties for violations of the labor code which would be able to be assessed and collected by aggrieved workers acting as private attorneys general." [California Labor Federation] Announcing a New Guide With Over 100 Labor Issues Ready for Lawsuits Introduction California's new "Sue Your Boss" law allows employees and former employees to sue for any violation of the California Labor Code, and to pocket civil penalties and collect attorney's fees. Businesses are already being sued under the law, and labor attorneys are looking to find new ways to sue. SB 796 created new California Labor Code sections 2698 and 2699. The law became effective January 1, 2004. We are offering what we believe to be the most extensive resource devoted to the new law. California Employees Know Your Rights. The information in Sue Your Boss can save your job. There are over 100 issues to consider if you work for a bad employer. We list issues your employer doesn't want you to know. There are things your employer probably doesn't know, but if it did, it wouldn't want you to know about them! California Employers Sue Your Boss is a must read. It can save your business thousands of dollars, or just plain save your business! If you haven't heard about the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 -- you may be in big trouble. You cannot rely on your attorney to know every possible violation your business could commit. Sue Your Boss lists issues most attorneys never dreamed were violations of the California Labor Code, and it would cost thousands of dollars to hire an attorney to prepare this critically needed information. Summary of Contents We are confident that you will find issues that you didn't know about, and issues your attorney doesn't know about. Some of the topics that are covered: Summary of the Labor Code Private Attorney's General Act Legislative Analysis of the Act Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Record Keeping Requirements Restrictions When Hiring Employees Wage and Hour Requirements Turning a Wage Dispute Into a Wage Disaster Employee Payments and Wage Deductions Employee Benefits Disciplining Employees When Employees Can Take Time-Off Termination Issues Handling Workplace Complaints Working Conditions Gotchas Privacy Concerns Cooperating With the Labor Commissioner Government Code Violations: discrimination, harassment, forced retirement, English only rules, others Examples of Potential Wrongdoing #1 - A national company with thousands of employees throughout California and the country, is headquartered in New York where it keeps payroll records for safekeeping. Sue Your Boss explains why the California Labor Code has probably been violated. #20 - To save money and prevent paychecks from being lost or stolen, a company implements a mandatory direct deposit policy. Although well intended, there has likely been a violation of the Labor Code. #76 - The business has 15 employees, all women, and one bathroom with a stall. Another employee is hired (it doesn't matter whether they are a man or a woman). There has probably been a violation of the Labor Code. What do bathroom stalls have to do with the Labor Code? Find out why in Sue Your Boss. #99 - The employee employment contracts, or the employee handbook that employees must acknowledge and agree to, includes a term that turns out to be illegal. Even if the term has nothing to do with the Labor Code, there is probably a violation of the Labor Code. Find out why in Sue Your Boss. The potential civil penalties are per employee, per pay period that the illegal term has existed. What are the potential penalties for your business? How Does the New Law Work? Lets assume a business omits required information on its pay stubs and the business has 50 employees. The business could be subject to a $100 penalty for each of its employees in the first pay period this occurs, or $5000 in penalties. What if the error is not caught for almost the entire year - fifty pay periods? Now, the business is potentially liable for an additional $500,000 in penalties, plus paying the attorney's fees for the employees, not to mention paying its own attorneys. Are the penalties covered by insurance? Probably not. Ouch! Bonus Information Sue Your Boss includes references to Government Code violations that businesses also need to be aware of. Many of these violations also allow for the recovery of attorneys fees. The complete text of the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, including the legislative declarations of policy and why the Act was created, are included. We have a detailed analysis of the law and a listing of which groups supported, and which groups opposed the law, and of course the voting records of your representatives - who voted for the law and who voted against it. Newly Added - Key analysis of whether the law is retroactive and employers face paying penalties and attorney's fees for labor code violations that occurred years go. Price It could cost thousands of dollars to hire an attorney to prepare a review of possible labor code violations a business may face. It will cost much, much more if litigation is commenced. Fortunately, since valuable information can be distributed and provided more affordably via the Internet than other distribution channels, the purchase price is only $49. We also hope that you will decide to become a monthly subscriber to lawzilla.com, but even if you don't, this invaluable resource will pay for itself many times over. 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