Your role was cut and they told you it was AI. The announcement mentioned efficiency, transformation, restructuring around new technology. You walked out with severance papers and a story that sounded clean from the outside. Then you started asking yourself…
Belief: a vendor’s assurance that an AI hiring tool is “bias-free” or “compliant” covers both fairness and legality. A vendor assurance is a marketing statement. Two distinct compliance frameworks apply to AI tools used in employment decisions, and an employer…
A message from a coworker landed on your phone after hours and the tone was off. A Slack thread crossed a line you could not unsee. A conference trip had a moment in a hotel hallway that you keep replaying….
Belief: harassment by customers, vendors, or other non-employees is not the employer’s exposure because the employer does not control the harasser. FEHA liability for third-party harassment turns on response, not control. The standard is whether the employer knew or should…
Belief: California’s heat illness rules are satisfied by having a written plan on file. The plan is the starting point, not the finish line. Cal/OSHA’s outdoor heat illness standard (Title 8, §3395) and the newer indoor standard (Title 8, §3396,…
“It is just a tuition perk; we are fine” is what an owner says about an educational-assistance program that is operating outside §127’s structure. Internal Revenue Code §127 lets an employer exclude up to $5,250 per year in qualified educational…
“We told them about it in the handbook” is the line that does the least work in the lawsuit. Productivity monitoring software — keystroke logging, screen capture at intervals, idle-time scoring, application-use tracking — has moved into small-business operations. A…
“The arbitration agreement they signed with the staffing agency covers us” is the assumption that just got tested in California’s First District — and lost. In Toothman v. Redwood Toxicology Laboratory, Inc., filed May 5, 2026 and certified for publication,…
“They signed the clawback, so we’re covered” is a sentence that stopped being true in California on January 1, 2026. AB 692 took effect on that date. It added Business and Professions Code §16608 and Labor Code §926, and it…
“Our 1099 paperwork is airtight” is the belief that produced an alleged $4,423,450 assessment against Hart Placement Agency. In April 2026, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office assessed Hart Placement, a Los Angeles home-care agency, and its principals $4,423,450 for the…
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