Existing law requires businesses that serve the public or are open to the public and maintain toilet facilities to make those facilities available to the public free of charge. Existing law also states that publicly and privately owned establishments where the public congregates must maintain a sufficient number of temporary or permanent toilet facilities to meet the needs of the public at peak hours. These laws also require that each business establishment provide, within reasonable access, a sufficient number of toilet facilities for the use of the employees.

Effective March 1 ...

Unless you reside in a cave (in which case you likely will not be reading this), you are aware that we are moving towards a paperless society.  However, assumptions about providing documents electronically can be dangerous, and privacy rights must also be respected.  With respect to issuing Form W-2, IRS Publication 15-A provides the following:

Furnishing Form W-2 to employees electronically. You may set up a system to furnish Form W-2 electronically. Each employee participating must consent (either electronically or by paper document) to receive his or her Form W-2 ...

California law already prohibits employers with 25 or more employees from discriminating or retaliating against employees who take time off work for specified purposes related domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.  Assembly Bill 2337 (AB 2337) amends Labor Code section 230.1 to require that employers provide written notice of these rights to all new hires and, upon request, to current employees.  The bill also requires the Labor Commissioner to develop a form that an employer can elect to use to comply with this requirement, and when developed, to post it online.  The notice ...

QUESTION:  As receiver,  I sued a third party to collect funds owed to the entity in receivership.  I have settled the lawsuit.  The defendant’s attorney insists that I get court approval of the settlement. What a pain. Am I required to get court approval of the deal I cut? If so, which court needs to approve the settlement and what do I have to establish to get the settlement approved?

ANSWER:  Sorry, but yes, you do need to get court approval of the settlement unless the court previously gave you authority to settle litigation without subsequent court approval.  The court that has to approve the ...

Employers should post California’s recently issued 2017 minimum wage poster found at   https://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/MW-2017.pdf .  The new poster reflects that the state minimum wage for employers with 26 or more employees increases to $10.50 on January 1, 2017, and to $11.00 on January 1, 2018.  For employers with 25 or fewer employees, the minimum wage remains at $10.00 until January 1, 2018, when it increases to $10.50.

The poster also contains 2017 and 2018 maximum lodging and meal credits that may be used to meet part of the employer’s minimum wage obligation for live-in ...

Effective January 22, 2017, the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring will prohibit most employers in the City of Los Angeles from inquiring about a job applicant’s possible criminal history until an initial job offer is made.  Part of a national trend of “ban the box” laws, the ordinance bans the “check the box” or other questions on a job application regarding criminal convictions and prohibits employers from inquiring about such convictions by any other means until a conditional employment offer is made.  With limited exceptions, the ordinance applies to ...

QUESTION:  I have been appointed receiver to enforce a judgment. I filed a motion in the case which I served on counsel for the plaintiff (the judgment creditor) and counsel for the defendant (the judgment debtor).  The court denied my motion, without prejudice, stating that I need to serve the judgment creditor himself and that service on his counsel was not good enough.  What’s going on? I thought service on counsel for a party constituted service on the party.  

ANSWER:  Prior to the entry of judgment you are correct. Service on counsel who has appeared for a party in an action constitutes ...

Even though property acquired during marriage is presumed to be community property, for property tax change in ownership purposes the Los Angeles County Property Tax Assessor’s Office believes otherwise.  Fortunately, the Assessment Appeals Board strongly disagreed with the Assessor.

Spouses domiciled in California and owning California real property as community property, either directly or indirectly through an entity, have a reasonable expectation that the property tax consequences arising from their dealings with that property will be governed by their status as ...

On Tuesday, a U.S. District Court judge in Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction delaying the U.S. Department of Labor rule that would have dramatically increased the minimum salary threshold to qualify as exempt from overtime on December 1^st.  The rule would have raised the annual salary required for exempt status from $23,660 to $47,476, which was expected to result in millions of employees becoming eligible for overtime pay because their salary would not meet the new threshold.   The judge’s decision stated that the Obama administration overstepped its authority by ...

QUESTION:  I am getting ready to close my receivership and distribute the funds in the estate to the two parties.  I have just learned that the Social Security number one of the parties gave me is not his.  What should I do?

ANSWER:  As a receiver you are the agent of the court.  As such, you must not be a party to any conduct that may not be legal.  You should bring this issue to the court’s attention by filing a request for instructions as to what you should do with the funds under your custody and whether you should notify the IRS and FTB about what is clearly a violation of the law by one of the parties to ...