Oleg Albert

MEDICAL LEAVE AT WORK Employees should never have to choose between their health and their jobs. Fortunately, the law recognizes this and provides many protections for employees who need to take time off of work to obtain medical care and treatment. However, in too many cases, employers try to deny this basic right, and you need to fight to protect your career if you need to take medical leave. WHICH LAWS PROTECT YOU? If an employee has a serious medical condition and needs time away from work, both California and federal laws provide protected time away from work for qualified employees. California’s leave law is known as the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the federal law is known as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Under each of these laws, unless modified by the employer, the employee must be qualified by being employed for one year (breaks in service are allowed), have worked at least 1,250 hours during the past year, and work at a location where the employer has 5...

Overtime Pay Rules for California Salespeople Generally, unless an employee is exempt, he or she is entitled to overtime pay. The default rule is that overtime is calculated at 1.5 times an employee’s regular rate of hourly pay, or “time and a half,” for each hour worked beyond 8 hours per workday or 40 hours per workweek. For salespeople, two potential exemptions from overtime may apply in California: “commission pay” or the “outside sales” exemption. Commission Pay This exemption applies to employees who are paid on a commissioned basis. A salesperson is exempt and not entitled to overtime if more than half of his or her pay is from commissions, so long as the hourly earnings of that employee are greater than 1.5 times the minimum wage. For example, if the California minimum wage is $11 per hour, the employee must earn at least $16.50 per hour for each hour worked and receive more than one-half of his or her pay from commissions. However, “commission” has a specific meaning under Cal...

BABY BONDING LEAVE IN CALIFORNIA In the first year after your baby’s birth, or after adoption or placement of a child in foster care, qualified employees can take up to 12 weeks of leave to bond with their new family member.  This leave does not need to be taken all at once, and it may be broken up into increments of two weeks (an employee can request shorter leaves twice). This is true for fathers and mothers , and this is in addition to any pregnancy leave a mother may have taken under California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave Law. PATERNITY LEAVE   New fathers have a legal right to take up to 12 weeks of family leave. The leave may be used for any of the following reasons: To bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee; To care for the employee’s parent, spouse, or child who has a serious health condition; or Because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering them unable to perform the functions of thei...