By Melinda Garcia | Published June 4, 2015 | Posted in Business, Employment Issues | Tagged Tags: Background Checks, best practices, employee | Leave a comment
The Importance of Employee Background Checks
In a horrible and heart-wrenching case from Washington D.C., an executive, his wife, ten year old son, and housekeeper were all kidnapped, tortured, and killed inside of their home. According to the police affidavit, a former employee perpetrated the crime in order to collect a ransom before killing the family and setting their home ablaze. Read More
Read MoreTransgender Employee Sues Employer for Denying Female Identity
A transgender former employee of Barnes & Noble Bookstore is suing in Orange County federal court, alleging that the management at the store where she worked refused to allow her to present herself as a woman at work and fired her when she stopped complying. Victoria Ramirez, along with the Transgender Law Center, is now suing Read More
Read MoreLed Zeppelin Copyright Lawsuit Moves to California
A copyright lawsuit that claims that the band Led Zeppelin plagiarized the song “Stairway to Heaven” from the band Spirit is changing venues from Philadelphia to California. Despite the plaintiff’s attempt to keep the lawsuit in Pennsylvania, a judge ordered that the case be moved to a federal courthouse in Los Angeles. Facts of the Case Read More
Read MoreAmerican Apparel Sued for Labor Law Violations
A class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against the clothing retailer American Apparel for violations of state labor laws and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The lawsuit stems from American Apparel’s treatment of its workers after it announced mass layoffs last Read More
Read MoreJoss Whedon & Lionsgate Sued for Copyright Infringement
Director/producer/writer Joss Whedon and the production company Lionsgate have been sued by a man claiming that they stole the idea for the film, “Cabin in the Woods,” from a novel that he wrote in 2006. Mr. Whedon is known for directing the hugely popular “Avenger’s” movies in addition to creating television products like Buffy the Read More
Read MoreDrivers Settle Lawsuit against Trucking Company
A class action lawsuit filed by the milk tank drivers of Ruan trucking company has been settled out of court. The complaint filed by the drivers alleged that Ruan did not allow them uninterruptedlunch or dinner breaks, and was filed in a California court back in 2008. According to those involved in the case, Ruan Read More
Read MoreZillow Defeats Most Claims in Trade Secret Lawsuit
The real estate company Zillow, Inc. has successfully managed to knock out the majority of claims in atrade secret lawsuit that accuses the company of stealing an idea on their website known as the “Coming Soon” listings. The ruling cited a lack of “sufficient specificity [in] the trade secret and nontrade secret proprietary information at Read More
Read MoreAlameda County Walmart Sued for Wage Theft
The superstore giant Walmart is facing a class action lawsuit in Alameda County under the allegation that the retailer has been engaging inwage theft with its employees. According to the complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the company has been using “assistant store managers” to do the same work as lower level employees in Read More
Read MoreSex Discrimination Case Illustrates Importance of Employee Reviews
The recent verdict of a Californiasex discrimination and retaliation case for a female employee suing her venture capitalist employer has highlighted a number of potential problems that can arise with employees. Most importantly, it illustrates how important keeping current records and employee reviews can be to protect a company against employee claims. Facts of the Read More
Read MoreLegal Battle over “Happy Birthday” Song
A federal judge in California will rule in the next few weeks whether or not to throw out the decades-oldcopyright for the song, “Happy Birthday to You.” The copyright’s current owner, Warner/Chappel Music, could potentially owe millions of dollars to people and organizations that have licensed the song in recent years if the judge decides Read More
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