Unlock a wealth of knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of California’s employment law landscape. Our blog is a treasure trove of insightful posts authored by Matt Ruggles, exploring the latest trends, legal updates, and practical advice.
How to Negotiate a Severance Agreement in California’s Technology Industry Severance agreements are nothing new in California’s technology industry, but they’re more common than ever, especially in the wake of mass restructurings, reorganizations, and “strategic...
If you’ve been misclassified as an exempt employee in California, you may be losing far more than just overtime pay. Your classification affects how your sick pay is calculated, whether you get meal and rest breaks, and how much leverage you have to recover unpaid...
You clock out, head home, and settle in. But you’re still “on call.” You can’t leave town. You can’t have a drink after work with your friends or at the family barbeque. You’re checking your phone every few minutes, just in case. Your employer says you’re off the...
One of the most common situations I encounter is the often abrupt departure of a senior executive, someone who’s spent years driving growth, leading teams, and delivering results. When that executive is handed a severance agreement, the message is clear: the...
Employees paid on commission face a frustrating and uniquely unfair problem: illegal commission chargebacks. These occur when an employer deducts money from your paycheck, money you believe you've earned, claiming they’re “reversing” a commission for a deal that fell...
Most employees have no idea how to negotiate an increase in their severance offer. Like everything else in life, experience makes a big difference. And when you're negotiating a severance offer with an employer, it's no different. I’m Matt Ruggles. I specialize in...
If your leave of absence ended in termination, you’re not alone and you’re right to question whether that firing was legal. Whether you were out on medical leave, pregnancy leave, or a disability accommodation, California law puts strict limits on when and how an...
Employees offered a severance package from their employer normally have the same reaction: the severance payment offered is not enough to realistically transition the terminated employee to comparable subsequent employment. The result? The very first question most...
If you’re searching for a real-world disability discrimination case study, look no further than Head v. Costco Wholesale Corp. One former Costco employee was denied medical leave after exhausting his FMLA and CFRA time while caring for his wife with cancer and...
Some California employers think they’ve found a clever way to skip out on paying wages, overtime, and payroll taxes: they use what is known as "independent contractor misclassification" i.e. misclassify workers as independent contractors (ICs) instead of employees....
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