My Boss Touched Me Inappropriately at a Work Event: What Should I Do First Under California Law?
If your boss touched you inappropriately at a work event, it can be shocking, confusing, and deeply unsettling. Many women question whether it “counts” because it happened at a holiday party, conference, offsite retreat, client dinner, or team happy hour. Under...
Large Unpaid Wage Claims in California: How to Recover When Your Employer Won’t Pay
Large unpaid wage claims in California arise when an employer fails to pay an employee what they have already earned and the amount owed is significant (tens of thousands of dollars or more). This is not about a small payroll mistake or a missed hour of overtime. It...
Negotiating Severance for California Finance and Fintech Employees
If you work in finance, fintech, or financial technology and were just laid off in California, you are probably staring at a severance agreement and wondering what happens next. Questions about bonuses, RSUs, and equity come up immediately, especially when your...
Did My Employer Follow the FEHA Interactive Process? A California Employee’s Guide
When you tell your employer you have a disability, you expect cooperation. Instead, many California employees get pushback. HR stops returning calls. Managers get annoyed. Suddenly your job duties change, your schedule shifts, or you start getting treated like a...
Wrongful Termination Lawyer for Executives Falsely Accused of Harassment in California
California Executives Falsely Accused of Sexual Harassment: How to Protect Your Career and Fight Wrongful Termination If you’re a California executive falsely accused of sexual harassment, you already know how quickly your career can go from steady to freefall. One...
California Disability Discrimination in Employment: A Guide to Your Rights Under the FEHA
California disability discrimination in employment happens more often than most employees realize. If you’re dealing with a temporary or permanent disability or medical condition, the law expects your employer to work with you to identify solutions that keep you...
Severance Negotiation for California Entertainment Industry Executives
If you work in California’s entertainment industry and you see the writing on the wall, you already know what’s coming. When a studio, streamer, production company, or agency decides to make a change, it happens fast. One week you’re developing a slate, running a...
Severance Negotiation for California Healthcare Executives
If you are a California healthcare executive and you were just handed a severance agreement, you already know how fast the ground can shift under you. One day you are leading a hospital division, overseeing clinical operations, managing compliance risk, or guiding a...
Severance Negotiation for California Sales Executives: How to Protect Your Bonus, Commission, and Equity
If you are a sales executive in California and your company just terminated your employment and handed you a severance agreement, you are already in the middle of the fight. Severance negotiation for California sales executives is never simple, because your...
RSUs After a Layoff in California: Can I Retain Them?
The status of RSUs after a layoff in California raise immediate questions for employees in the technology, startup, fintech, and enterprise sales sectors. Restricted stock units have become a major part of compensation, and companies use RSUs to recruit talent,...
Appeal Deadlines for Labor Commissioner Decisions: What California Employees Must Know
If you recently won a wage dispute in front of the California Labor Commissioner and your employer is now threatening to appeal, the next step is understanding how appeal deadlines for Labor Commissioner decisions actually work. Your hearing is handled by the Division...
California Severance Negotiation Lawyer: How We Increased a Two-Week Offer to Six Months of Pay
If you’ve just been handed a lowball severance offer and you’re wondering whether there’s any realistic way to increase it, you’re not imagining the problem. Employers don’t hand out more severance out of goodwill. They only increase an offer when they’re worried...
Driving a Company Vehicle in California? You May Be Owed Pay for Commute Time
Many employees driving a company vehicle in California are underpaid without realizing it. If your workday begins the moment you leave home in a company truck or van, whether you are picking up tools, following a required route, or heading straight to your first stop,...
Can I Challenge an Arbitration Agreement in California After I’ve Signed It?
Many California employees wonder whether they can challenge an arbitration agreement in California after they’ve signed it. Employers often require workers to sign these agreements when they start a job (or even months later) stating that any disputes must go to...
California Workplace Harassment Case Study: How One Employee Fought Back
Being harassed at work is one of the most isolating experiences a person can go through. You start questioning yourself. You wonder if anyone will believe you or if speaking up will only make things worse. Maybe you have already complained to HR and been brushed off,...
What to Do If Your Boss Sexually Harasses You at Work in California
If your boss is sexually harasses you at work in California, it can feel like you’re trapped. You depend on your job for your income, your reputation, and your future. When the person controlling those things crosses the line, it’s more than uncomfortable. It’s an...
Proactive Severance Negotiation in California: 13 Mistakes to Avoid
Most executives sense their role is unstable long before termination, but most wait too long to act. Executives convince themselves that the reorganization will settle or that loyalty will be rewarded. By the time they recognize the signs (or are actually terminated),...
California Severance Payment: 5 Tricks and 5 Treats
A California severance payment can look like a gift, but it often hides a few surprises. When a severance agreement lands on your desk, it can feel a little like Halloween. Some offers are genuine treats, while others come wrapped as tricks. Employers know that when...
California Severance Negotiation After Layoffs: What to Know Before You Sign
If you were just laid off, you may still be trying to process what happened. One day you were part of a corporate team, and the next you were told your position was eliminated and handed a severance package you are expected to review quickly. In moments like this,...
Executive Severance Negotiation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Executives often underestimate how costly executive severance negotiation mistakes can be when exiting a California company. Understanding where these mistakes occur, and how to avoid them, is critical to protecting compensation, equity, reputation, and long-term...
Non-Negotiable Severance in California: 5 Myths Dispelled by a Lawyer
If you’ve just been handed a severance agreement, there’s a good chance HR made it sound like you need to sign quickly or risk losing everything. Maybe they called it “standard.” Maybe they warned you there’s a deadline. Maybe they even told you it’s a non-negotiable...
How To Prove Age Discrimination in California
If you’ve worked hard for decades only to be passed over for someone younger, you’re not imagining things. Learning how to prove age discrimination in California is critical because employers rarely admit bias openly. They hide it behind so-called “business decisions”...
How to Maximize Your Severance Offer in California: Tips from a Lawyer
The moment you are handed a severance package can stop you in your tracks. One minute you are processing the shock of losing your job, the next you are staring at a dense legal document full of deadlines, waivers, and promises that sound official but are written to...
Workplace Bullying vs. Workplace Harassment in California: What’s the Legal Difference?
I wrote this blog to explain the difference between workplace bullying vs. workplace harassment in California, why bullying usually is not legally actionable, and what employees can do in both situations. I'm Matt Ruggles, and I have been practicing employment law in...
How to Document and Prove Sexual Harassment in California
If you are being sexually harassed at work, it is not enough to know that what is happening is wrong. You need to know how to document and prove sexual harassment at work in California so that your case can stand up to scrutiny. The difference between having a valid...
Mistakes Employees Make When Reporting Sexual Harassment in California
If you’re reporting sexual harassment in California, it’s critical to understand how that the way you report it can affect your case. Many employees think filing an internal complaint is simple i.e. just tell HR what happened and expect the company to handle it. In...
Workplace Events and Sexual Harassment in California: Employee Guide
Workplace events and sexual harassment in California are more closely connected than many employees realize. Holiday parties, off-site retreats, conferences, client dinners, and business travel are supposed to be about team-building, networking, and maybe even a...
Negotiated Exits for Executives in California: How to Secure a Smart Departure
I’m Matt Ruggles. I’ve been practicing employment law in California for over 30 years, and I’ve helped executives negotiate every kind of severance you can imagine. One of the smartest and most overlooked strategies is what I call a negotiated exit, sometimes referred...
How to Negotiate an Executive Severance Package: Real Case Study of Success
You might be wondering how to negotiate an executive severance package from the perspective an an experienced California employment lawyer. The truth is, success comes down to strategy, timing, and knowing where the leverage lies. I’m Matt Ruggles, and I’ve been...
Disability Discrimination in California: Lessons from the Bronshteyn Case
If you are dealing with disability discrimination in California, you don’t just have to accept it. State law gives employees strong protections. A recent case, Bronshteyn v. Department of Consumer Affairs, shows how powerful those protections can be and why employees...