By: James Kachmar

When one or more of your key employees leaves to join a competitor and begins soliciting your customers, one of your strongest weapons under California’s trade secret laws is the ability to obtain an immediate temporary restraining order to stop your former employee and his or new employer from unlawfully competing against you. Many trade secrets cases can be won or lost at the early TRO/preliminary injunction stage. However, it is imperative that employers act fast to protect their rights or they may find that their trade secret case is weakened. Employers may, when faced with departing employees who are soliciting their customers, take a wait and see approach to determine the amount of damage and whether it is worthwhile to hire an attorney to pursue the matter in the court system. While this may make sense from a business approach, it can adversely impact the employer’s remedies should it eventually decide to pursue a lawsuit.

Continue Reading Employers: Act Fast or Weaken Your Trade Secret Case

Many employers’ employee handbooks contain policies regarding how investigations of possible employee misconduct will be handled. These policies regularly include admonishments to employees about maintaining the confidentiality of the investigation. What many employers do not consider when creating these policies is their implication of Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act and protected concerted activity.

Continue Reading NLRB Provides Further Guidance (and Restrictions) for Employer Investigations

With Special Guest Speaker, Vincent Catalano from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Inc. 

The Supreme Court has spoken and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) is here to stay. It is now critical that employers of all sizes learn how the PPACA may impact their workplace. Join Weintraub Tobin, and special guest speaker, Vincent Catalano, MBA, Area Vice President/Employee Benefits Consultant from Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., Inc., for this very timely and informative panel discussion about how employers can navigate the complexities of, and comply with, the PPACA.

Date:    May 21, 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.

 

 

The regulations regarding California’s Mandatory Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for supervisors require that certain employers provide training to their supervisors every two years. The Labor and Employment Group at Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin is offering a two hour in-person training session that will comply with all the requirements outlined in the regulations.

If you are an employer with 50 or more employees, and have supervisors who have not yet been trained, this training is a must. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you comply with your continuing sexual harassment training obligations. 

Continue Reading Upcoming Training: Mandatory AB1825 Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

Employers continue to grapple with this very difficult area of employment law. It is not enough to focus on just one law when an employee is unable to work or is absent from the workplace due to some medical condition or injury suffered by the employee or his or her family member. Instead, employers need to understand and comply with how the courts, and various federal and state regulatory agencies, are interpreting the interplay between a number of laws like the FMLA/CFRA, ADA/FEHA, PDL, USERRA, and workers’ compensation.

This seminar is designed to help employers and HR professionals understand this complex interplay and to provide some practical guidance on administering leaves and absences.

Date:    April 25, 2013

Time:  9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

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

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