Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Laws Effecting CA Employers

We want to alert you to some recent court, legislative and regulatory agency decisions that will have a significant impact upon employers in California and in other states.  Two of the most recent employment law issues that caught our attention were the recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board against a company specific to their social networking policies (Facebook/ Twitter et al) and the new Department of Labor program designed to assist workers with wage and hour claims by connecting them to a private attorney to handle their case.

Social networking sites have become mainstream and are here to stay, creating challenges for employers managing their company policies on employee use of social networking both within and outside of the workplace. The recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that Facebook postings are “protected” in many instances and overbroad policies are unlawful is just one additional- and urgent- sign for employers that they need to develop properly drafted, very specific company policies addressing the use of social networking sites.

Social networking poses many potentially challenging issues for employers and owners in many other areas, including hiring discrimination, defamation, privacy & confidentiality, infringement upon Federal Trade Commission marketing guidelines, termination of employment, workplace violence / workplace security, and harassment.

Consequently, ACG consultants will be continuing to strongly encourage all our clients to be extremely diligent about updating both their company employee handbook and social networking policies. By properly updating these critical employment documents, employers can protect against legal exposure and also provide their HR administrative function with the guidelines to effectively deal with any challenges that arise specific to social networking issues. Bottom line, the time for employers to properly develop their own company-specific social networking policy is now, rather than in response to threatened litigation or some other challenge.

Additionally, the federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently announced a new program to assist workers in pursuing wage and hour claims against their current or former employers by connecting them with private attorneys. What this means is many workers with claims specific to laws such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will be receiving notification that due to the “high volume of claims and lack of agency resources,” the WHD will provide them with contact information for private attorneys with expertise in wage and hour or protected leave laws.
The WHD has also stated that they will provide assistance to both the employee and their attorney in obtaining any relevant case information that may be advantageous while pursuing legal action against the employer.

In the past, many complaints filed the WHD would get lost in the bureaucracy and ultimately would be dismissed. With the advent of this new program, however, we believe it is reasonable to assume that many more FMLA and wage and hour related lawsuits will now be filed against employers by attorneys who are referred by the WHD.

In summary, stepped up regulatory enforcement specific to employment and workplace safety compliance is a continuing trend at both the federal and state level.  The newly implemented WHD/DOL program described here is just one of many similar programs we expect to be implemented in the coming year.  One of the most effective defenses to protect against compliance exposures is for businesses to perform a complete HR “audit” of their company that includes all of the company’s wage and hour practices and employment policies, including social networking.  Lastly, every company employee handbook should be updated or at least reviewed annually.

Clients have access to free and discounted services to address these protective measures. For more information, contact Carol L. Corporales at 858.202.6187 Directly or by email at

What Clients Are Saying About Carol Corporales...

Carol is not only a knowledgeable and accessible insurance professional, she's also personable and easy to work with. Her background in technology allows her to quickly understand what our company does, and to pro-actively solve problems that other brokers couldn't. We view her as a valued member of our team."

Office Administrator, E-Band Communications

See below for more comments about Carol.

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Other Comments About Carol's Work...



"I am always able to contact Carol directly and get a fast response, and she really knows commercial insurance. With Carol it's all about customer service."

Controller - Westerly Mechanical Corporation



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"My experience with Carol is that she goes way beyond the basics. She is thorough, timely and keeps me up to date. Best of all, she has our best interests at heart."


Court Shaw, CFO - Aethercomm, Inc.


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"Carol is not only a knowledgeable and accessible insurance professional, she’s also personable and easy to work with. Her background in technology allows her to quickly understand what our company does, and to pro-actively solve problems that other brokers couldn’t. We view her as a valued member of our team. "


Office Administrator - E-Band Communications


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" Carol's personal service and knowledge always exceed our expectations. She makes sure we are covered but not over-covered."


Director of Finance, REMEC Broadband Wireless