The FSMA is the most extensive change to the U.S. food safety system in more than 70 years. Signed into law in 2011, the FSMA directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue numerous regulations directed toward enhancing food safety and minimize the risk of foodborne illnesses. As with almost every law nowadays, the FSMA contains a whistleblower provision to ostensibly “advance the broad goals” of the new law.

Continue Reading Food and Beverage Companies Beware: New Risks Associated with Whistleblower Protections Under the Food Safety Modernization Act

With the family summer travel season winding down, it is time to get out your Weintraub Tobin Passport for this fall’s amazing schedule of free legal seminars! There is still time to complete your passport before the end of the year. At the end of your long journey through this year’s employment law landscape, we want to treat those that complete their passport to a nice hot meal.  So make sure to bring your passport to our next seminar and join in the fun! Click here for a list of our upcoming seminars.

By:  Lizbeth V. West

As many California employers are learning the hard way these days, the misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees can have far reaching consequences when an employer is audited by different governmental agencies during either a random audit or an audit that is prompted in response to a claim that has been filed. For example, not only can an employer be at risk for enforcement action by the Employment Development Department (EDD) for failing to withhold personal income taxes as well as unemployment and disability contributions, but it can also be exposed to liability for failing to comply with California’s wage and hour obligations if the Labor Commissioner’s Office determines the workers are misclassified.

In a recent case out of the Fourth Appellate District, however, employers received one bit of good news and that is that if it has been administratively adjudicated in one agency that an employer has properly classified workers as independent contractors (which as a side note, happens very rarely….) other state agencies are bound by that determination under the doctrine of collateral estoppel. (Happy Nails & Spa of Fashion Valley v. Julie A. Su, as Labor Commissioner (7/19/13) 217 Cal. App. 4th 1459.)

Click to see full discussion of case.

By:  Shauna N. Correia

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), employers are generally required to pay overtime wages to employees who work longer than 40 hours per week. The FLSA provides several exceptions to this rule. Those "employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity[,] . . . or in the capacity of outside salesman," for example, are exempt from the statute’s minimum wage and maximum hour requirements. Whether mortgage loan officers (who typically assist prospective borrowers in identifying and then applying for various mortgage offerings) qualify for this "administrative exemption" has been the subject of some debate, even within the Department of Labor.

Continue Reading Mortgage Loan Officers Exempt? Don’t Take it to the Bank Just Yet

Summary of Program

The ever increasing number of claims filed with the Department of Labor and California Labor Commissioner for unpaid overtime, and the increasing number of wage and hour class action lawsuits, highlight the importance of correctly classifying employees as exempt or non-exempt. This seminar is designed to help employers and HR professionals gain a more thorough understanding of the various exemptions available under California law and learn how to conduct an exemption analysis in order to reduce potential liability.

 Date:        August 22, 2013

Time:        9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Location:  Weintraub Tobin, 400 Capitol Mall, 11th Floor, Sacramento, CA

For more information and to register for this seminar, please click here.