Employment Laws

Employment law covers all rights and obligations within the employer-employee relationship — whether current employees, job applicants, or former employees. Because of the complexity of employment relationships and the wide variety of situations that can arise, employment law involves legal issues as diverse as discrimination, wrongful termination, wages and taxation, and workplace safety. Many of these issues are governed by applicable federal and state law. This is FindLaw’s collection of Employment Laws articles, part of the Human Resources section of the Corporate Counsel Center. Law articles in this archive are predominantly written by lawyers for a professional audience seeking business solutions to legal issues. Start your free research with FindLaw.

Human Resources

Employment Laws Articles

Employment Law Commentary: A New Day in the California Legislature for Labor Legislation: A Governor Who Will Sign the Bills

During the eight years of the Wilson Administration, over 250 pieces of labor legislation passed by the Democratically controlled state Legislature were vetoed by Republican Governor Pete Wilson. During the prior eight years, Governor Deukmejian ...
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Employment Law Commentary

In October 1999, our Employment Law Commentary discussed Bajorek v. IBM, 191 F.3d 1033 (9th Cir. 1999), a Ninth Circuit case that upheld the enforceability of a limited non-competition clause contained within a stock option agreement. While the ...
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Employment Law: Employers must enforce drug-testing policies in a way that minimizes exposure to tort claims

Reprinted with permission from the Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 2001 Throughout the nation, drug testing has become increasingly prevalent in recent years as employers seek additional protection for their human-resource investments. For many ...
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Employment Law Group Update: Employer Prevails Where Alleged Sexual Harassment Victim Failed to Avail Herself of Company Policy

A recent California case underscores the importance of an employer's efforts to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior. In Kohler v. Inter-Tel Technologies, a federal district court threw out an employee.s claim of sexual ...
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Employment Law Group Update: Ninth Circuit Says Federal Arbitration Act Does Not Apply to Employment Contracts

The debate over the enforceability of arbitration clauses rages on. This WSGR update looks at two recent decisions addressing this issue of significant importance to California employers. The Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") does not apply to ...
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Employment Law Group Update: Supreme Court Expands “Whistleblower” Public Policy Exception

In the California Supreme Court's most recent employment decision, the Court ruled that administrative regulations may be a source of "public policy" that limits an employer's right to terminate an otherwise at-will employee. Green v. Ralee ...
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Employment Law Group Update: Supreme Court Makes it Easier for Employees to Prevail in Sexual Harassment Cases

In two recent decisions, the United States Supreme Court has significantly increased an employer's potential liability under federal law for sexual harassment claims by employees harassed by their supervisors. In Burlington Industries, Inc. v ...
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Employment Law Overview For Colorado

While Colorado case law continues to refer to the concept of "employment-at-will" meaning that if there is no agreed "term" of employment, an employee may be fired at any time, in truth there are very few employment terminations that rely on this ...
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Employment Law Update: Spring, 1999

On March 1, 1999, the EEOC issued long awaited guidelines to clarify the rights and responsibilities of employers and individuals with disabilities under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). Whether the EEOC's Guidance ...
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Employment Practices Liability Insurance: A Viable Preventive Strategy

"EPLI" -- employment practices liability insurance -- is insurance against employment lawsuits. For a number of reasons, employers cannot afford to ignore the potential exposure to employment lawsuits which have increased dramatically over the last ...
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