Both employees and employers in California need to know that even if they don’t sign a formal employment contract, their conduct alone, without many or any actual documents to that effect, can form an employment or business relationship. This is because to form a contract, a manifestation of mutual assent…
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued its unanimous ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc., v Superior Court, making it even harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors (rather than employees). The previous standard used for classifying workers as employees or independent contractors had been in place…
Section 16600 of the California Business and Professions Code provides that “every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind of to that extent void”. The law is not limited to employment contracts and does not mention competition. Rather, this…
California workplace operates under the basic presumption that in the absence of agreement otherwise, a worker is an at-will employee. This means that an employee can be terminated for any reason, arbitrary reason, or no reason, but not for illegal reason such as discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. This presumption is…
Many employment contracts and the majority of the union collective bargaining agreements provide that the employee should not be terminated unless for good cause. It is important to understand what the “good cause” standard exactly means, as the meaning of “good cause” in this instance is quite different from the…
It is presumed in California that unless agreed otherwise between employer and his employee (such as through contract or the union’s collective bargaining agreement), the employment is “at will.” Generally, at-will employee may be terminated for any reason, no reason, or arbitrary reason, as long as it is not an…