RCPC is a boutique labor and employment law firm. From outstanding results and labor peace for employers to exceptional payments for select few employees, RCPC provides advocacy excellence and dedication to its clients. Our practice of law concentrates on employment law litigation and independent workplace investigations. We are dedicated to the pursuit of workplace justice for all.
Employment discrimination has been typically defined as unequal treatment at work, without justification, which is based on a prohibited hostility or ill feeling (animus). The conduct of an employer is illegal if substantially motivated by illegal discrimination.
Retaliation is the action of returning an attack or making a counter attack. Employer retaliation includes an employee being given fewer hours, assigned to dangerous duties or a dangerous location, demoted and/or being fired.
A claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy is an exceptional remedy available only in certain cases, when the employer has crossed the line by acting illegally towards the employee and, at the same time, in open violation of an important interest of the State of California.
California law imposes a duty on employers to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment; and specifically makes it unlawful for an employer to harass an employee because of any of the protected categories.
A person with a physical or mental disability has the right to a reasonable accommodation to allow the person to perform the essential functions of any job. A California employer with five or more employees has a duty to provide such a “reasonable accommodation” and, in doing so, must engage with in a good-faith interactive process to try to find an accommodation.
California law prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee who reports to a governmental agency a violation that the employee in good faith believes the employee has committed. The law also protects employees who report suspected illegal behavior internally to a person with authority to investigate or externally to any public body conducting an investigation, hearing or inquiry.
An employee in California is entitled to the payment of overtime unless he or she is an “exempt” employee under the wage & hour laws, rules and regulations. In general terms, an exempt employee is an employee who primarily performs duties as an executive, administrator or professional.
California law provides all hourly employees with the opportunity to take unpaid duty-free meal period(s). Any non-exempt employee who works more than five (5) hours in a day is entitled to take an unpaid thirty (30) minute duty-free meal period. An employee who works over ten (10) hours in a day is entitled to take a second, unpaid thirty (30) minute duty-free meal period.
A workplace investigation is a fair and impartial process to discover all relevant facts for an organization to make an appropriate employment decision.