Have you experienced discrimination at work because of your Sexual Orientation? Gender Identity? Gender Expression? These personal characteristics are known as "protected classes". Illegal discrimination occurs when an adverse employment action is taken because of an employee's membership in a protected class. Examples of adverse actions may include: refusing to hire, firing, demotion, refusing to promote, disciplining, issuing a poor performance report, bullying, harassment, underpayment of regular wages; denial of overtime pay, meal breaks or rest breaks; or, being forced to work before clocking in or after clocking out. By the way, it is not necessary that the target of illegal discrimina

Nurses. And care is being compromising to save the cost of hiring more. Another report has taken aim at nursing home staffing levels. The New York Times had blasted the nursing home industry for playing fast and loose with staffing numbers. Now a state-by-state report by Families for Better Care finds that understaffing in the industry is chronic.The report is blunt about what providers need to do: hire and schedule more front-line nurses. The study found that the difference between quality nursing home care and subpar care came down to an average of 22 extra minutes of direct care per resident daily. While that may not sound like much, filling the gap may be easier said than done. Labor cos

Taking an adverse employment action against an employee because he or she is a member of a "protected class" is illegal. A "protected class" is a group of people with a common characteristic. It is also illegal to discriminate by retaliating against an employee for engaging in a protected activity, such as reporting discrimination, workplace safety violations, fraud or corruption. Most cases of illegal discrimination are based on: Race, Gender, Age, Medical condition, or Disability. It is also illegal to discriminate based on: Sexual preference, Sexual identity, Color National Origin/Ancest Religion, Veteran status, or Marital status, or medical condition. These are called "protected classes

I had written previously that up to 85% of credit card lawsuits end in a default judgment. A default judgment is entered when a consumer is never properly served with a copy of a Summons and Complaint initiating a lawsuit, or, if served, fails to respond. It seems that I was wrong....If you believe the Wall Street Journal, that is. The Journal reports that, according to collection industry estimates, 94% of collection lawsuits end in a default judgment because the defendant fails to respond to the summons and complaint. Aside from the shocker that I need to find new work, because this leaves only 6% of the cases for me to win at trial or settle, the Industry is admitting that 94% of the peo

In our constant effort to keep pace with the latest developments in debt collector psychosis, we find the following incidents. If you're looking for debt collector harassment, you don't have to search much further. First a brief review: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) governs the collection of consumer debt. Among the prohibited tactics, for example, are threats. Debt collectors can't threaten consumers, physically or financially, and, they can't threaten to take any action which they are not legally permitted to take. Let's see if these qualify: Threats to dig up dead relatives! It doesn't get any better than this. The debt collector, collecting an unpaid funeral bill, threat

It doesn't hurt to know whether the credit card collection lawsuit against you is barred by the Statute of Limitations. You could save a pile of money. One of the first questions I ask is: "When was your last payment." Here's how that question figures in: Credit card lawsuits are based on breach of contract. The California Statute of Limitations ("SOL") for Breach of Written Contract is four years, two years if there is no writing. Credit card contracts are in writing. Thus, the California SOL is four years..... that is, unless it's three! It all depends on the credit card, and here's how you know: Some background first: The statute of limitations refers to a law which establishes the lengt

Welcomer to "Sewer service"! "Sewer service" occurs when a process server, who is paid per defendant served, tosses the Summons & Complaint "into the sewer" and then swears under oath that you were properly served. It's easy money for the process server - just think of the time saved trying to actually locate people - with virtually no downside......other than for you. When the "unserved" defendant fails to respond to the complaint, plaintiff gets a default judgment. The defendant finds out about the judgment for the first time when his or her bank account is levied.....usually the day before the mortgage is due. This happened to a client of mine when her entire life savings - $26,000 !

California oil wells pump big money. Over 50,000 active wells yield more than 200 million barrels per year. It works out to about $36,000 a minute. Downtime is simply too costly. Under this enormous pressure, oil services workers are being illegally undepaid, perhaps massively so! Here are the most common ways oil service companies under-pay their employees: 1) Requiring them to be "on call" and to report on short notice, without providing financial compensation for the "on-call" time; 2) Not paying them for ALL hours worked, including time spent traveling to and from job sites, time spent putting on and taking off certain protective equipment, and time spent waiting on a job site. 3) Not

Here's a checklist of debt collection behavior that violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Keep in mind that the FDCPA applies only to attempts to collect "consumer debt" - that is, debt incurred primarily for personal or household purposes. The FDCPA does not regulate the collection of commercial or business debt. First a Disclaimer: The FDCPA is a complex piece of legislation with numerous exceptions and qualifications. The following briefly summarizes selected provisions of the FDCPA. It is neither complete nor legally precise, and does not constitute legal advice. Rather, it is offered only to provide preliminary insight about selected provisions of the act. Validation of Debts

We enforce the California Lemon Law against manufacturers of defective vehicles. When a slot machine comes up lemons, you lose. When the lemon is delivered by an auto dealer, we can help you get a full refund or a replacement vehicle of comparable value. In some cases, where the manaufacturer's disregard for your rights is "willful", we may also be able to obtain a civil penalty up to twice the value of the vehicle. By the way, all this costs you nothing. The manufacturer pays our fee. If your new car, or used car still under warranty, has a defect which the dealership is unable to fix after repeated attempts, or, if the car has been in the shop for a total of 30 days, you may have a Lemon

Employment in California is presumed to be "at-will". "At-will" means that unless you have an employment agreement which says that you cannot be terminated except for good-cause, you can be fired for any reason, or for no reason at all ! And, you simply cannot sue your boss for failing to recognize your "wonderful-ness" - that is, you can't sue your boss, just for being a jerk. Here's when you CAN sue: You can sue if you were terminated BECAUSE of your race, color, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, disability, marital status, or medical condition. These are called "protected classes." It unlawful to discriminate against someone i

If you were never served with notice of the lawsuit in time to defend it, the judgment against you is void and may be set aside. But you should act Now! You may lose your rights if you delay. Sometimes the first time you learn of a judgment is when your wages are garnished or your bank account is frozen. ("Surprise, you have no money !" ) It makes people crazy. And while you may be entitled to your money back, your rent or mortgage payment will likely come due before this happens. So, you need to make arrangements, FAST. Wage Garnishment and Bank Levy are Tools for Collecting Judgments. If a debt collector has garnished your wages or levied your bank account, there is a judgment against you.