San Jose

San Jose is the largest and most populous Northern California city. Located in Silicon Valley with a population of 971,233. a major driver of the city’s local economy is technology—it is one of the wealthiest major cities in the world. Global tech companies headquartered in the city include Adobe, Altera, Roku, Inc. eBay, Cadence Design Systems, Brocade Communications Systems, Cisco Systems, Zoom, and Broadcom. Other companies with major facilities in the city are Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, Becton Dickinson, and Qualcomm. It is also home to many startups, along with other kinds of businesses, institutions, and museums. These employers must abide by many federal, state, and local laws when dealing with their employees and prospective employees. Unfortunately, some employers do commit legal violations and harm job applicants and their employees in so doing. The experienced San Jose employment attorneys of Calderone Law Firm may be able to help you if you’ve been subject to employer misconduct or legal violations with regard to wage and hour, employment discrimination, and whistleblowing matters.

There are several statutes that may provide protection if you become a whistleblower who notifies authorities about your employer’s misconduct. The most commonly asserted retaliation or whistleblower statute is California Labor Code section 1102.5, which forbids employers from retaliating against an employee for reporting information or actions that the employee reason ably believes violate laws, rules, or regulations. Another important whistleblower law is the California False Claims Act, which allows for treble damages. This one is designed to stop contractors from submitting false or fraudulent invoices to the government for services or goods. The California Whistleblower Protection Act, meanwhile, permits state employees to report health or safety threats, legal violations and to report waste and fraud.

Federal and state laws prohibit employment discrimination, which occurs when an employer takes an adverse employment action due to an employee’s trait that the law protects, whether that trait is race, national origin, sex, religion, or something else. Discriminatory actions may involve termination, layoffs, failure to hire, failure to promote, disparate pay, and failure to provide equal opportunities such as training. California’s Fair Employment Housing Act (FEHA) protects a broader range of characteristics than federal laws do, and it applies to companies with as few as five employees. However, sexual harassment is forbidden in your San Jose workplace, even if you are the only employee. Sexual harassment includes any kind of unwelcome behavior or speech based on an employee’s sex including touches, groping, assault, rape, memes, graphics, blocking a path, jokes, and come-ons.

Employers are expected to pay their employees according to certain legal requirements. Non-exempt employees have wage and hour protections with regard to minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest breaks, and uniforms. In most cases, non-exempt employees are those that are paid hourly and have little to no control over how they do their work. Non-exempt employees and independent contractors or gig workers are not protected under wage and hour laws. However, in some cases, employers misclassify workers to try to avoid paying them under wage and hour rules, or to avoid purchasing workers’ compensation. If you suspect you’re a non-exempt employee who has been misclassified, whether because of ignorance or intentional choices, it is important to seek legal counsel to determine your legal options.

Individual cases of wage theft may not involve damages significant enough to bring a lawsuit. Under some circumstances, it may be appropriate for employees who are similarly situated and have been treated in like ways to band together to sue their employer in a class action lawsuit. For example, it might be appropriate for a group of maintenance workers who were not given their appropriate meal and rest breaks to bring a class action lawsuit. Our lawyers are experienced at these challenging cases and may be able to represent you.

If you and your employer disagree about whistleblowing, overtime, minimum wage, or discrimination, it’s imperative to talk to the trustworthy Chula Vista lawyers of Calderone Law Firm about your legal options. Our years of experience allow us to effectively represent our clients in court. Fill out our online form or call us at (424) 348-8290 for a free initial consultation.