Real Life Employment Law
Nearly every day, executives and managers, and the in-house counsel and Human Resources professionals who work with them, are confronted with unanticipated questions regarding the workforce. Just when they think they have "seen it all," along comes a new and often stranger scenario involving an odd twist to an area they thought they fully understood. These individuals often find themselves back at square one when trying to construct an appropriate response and devise a creative solution to the problem presented. Sometimes these "Quirky Questions" can be resolved easily; other times, they implicate practical and legal issues that are not immediately apparent.
This Quirky Employment Questions Blog addresses unanticipated questions regarding the workforce.
We encourage you to submit your thoughts and reactions to the questions presented. We also encourage you to submit questions that you would like to see addressed, subject to these guidelines.
Stephen D. Bell
Michael Droke
Joseph W. Hammell
Sarah Andrews Herman
Ryan E. Mick
William J. Miller
Melissa Raphan
Gregory M. Saylin
Gabrielle Wirth
David C. SingerBLOG CONTACT INFO
E: Wirth.Gabrielle@dorsey.com
P: 714.800.1455
Quirky Question # 85: We recently heard a rumor that a member of our software engineering staff is planning to leave and start a software company of his own that may compete with us. Further, we have heard that he is discussing his plans with others outside of our company using the desk phones in our San Francisco office. We...
Quirky Question # 75: We are a California employer and were just hit with a lawsuit by a former employee for acts that supposedly took place almost three years ago. Our former employee alleges that in January 2006, his supervisor asked him to fire three Asian-Americans who work in an otherwise all Caucasian department. The former employee alleges that he...
Quirky Question # 70: Our company frequently hires workers through employment placement agencies – some on a temporary basis, others for more long-term assignments. The placement company pays them and withholds employment taxes on their behalf. We sign contacts saying that the workers are independent contractors and we are not their employer. We recently terminated one of the workers who...
Quirky Question # 55: We have a highly mobile workforce, and we are concerned about our former employees going to work for a competitor, stealing our customers, and raiding our employees. We are a technology based company and have developed proprietary information that would give our competitors an edge if our former employees were to use or disclose it to...
Quirky Question # 40: We have an employee who is claiming she has a serious health condition as a result of work-related stress and has given us a note from a nurse practitioner saying she should be off work for a month. We don’t believe she has a serious medical condition, in part because we’ve heard that she is working...
Quirky Question # 29: Our company has offices in California. This year we want to improve our document retention practices. We’ve decided to maintain electronic records of personnel files. Can we do this in California? We were told that California law requires the records to be available at the job site. If this is true, can we switch to an...
Quirky Question # 21: We recently made a job offer to a gentleman as a lead systems administrator in the California division of our telecommunications company. As part of our routine pre-employment drug testing, he tested positive for marijuana. However, the applicant presented us with a doctor’s note allowing him to use “medical marijuana” for chronic back pain cause by...
Erica ChenErica is an associate in the Costa Mesa office of Dorsey & Whitney and a member of the firm’s Labor and Employ...
Jennifer ServiceJen has experience providing advice on the full range of employment law issues to large, multi-state employers....
Jack SullivanJack is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employment group, where he focuses his practice on employment adv...
Ieva AubinAs an employment and business immigration attorney, ...
Michael DrokeMike started his career as a client, not a lawyer...
Matt DurhamMatt defends employers in Utah and throughout the ...
Aaron GoldsteinAaron is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employ...
Josh HughesJosh’s experience spans trial and appellate advoc...
Jillian KornblattJillian is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employ...
Laura LestradeLaura began practicing at Dorsey in 1992 and has s...
Ryan MickFor more than a decade, Ryan has counseled corpo...
Nick PappasNick litigates and counsels with respect to com...
Melissa RaphanMelissa is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor and Employ...
Gabrielle WirthEmployers turn to Gabrielle for guidance on how they...
