San Diego Employment Law Attorney Blog

Most employees in San Diego understand that they are hired on an "at-will" basis, that is, either party can terminate the employment relationship at any time without cause. This rule, however, has a several important exceptions that limit the employer's right to unilaterally fire at-will employees.

The most important exception to the at-will employment rule is the public policy exception. Most states, including California, allow employees to seek damages for wrongful termination if they can prove that the employer violated an important, explicit and well-established public policy of the state by firing the employee. For example, racial bias will make a discharge wrongful if it shown to be a motivating cause for the discharge. Another important example of wrongful discharge is firing a worker for filing a workers' compensation claim.

Most employers facing claims of sex discrimination will try to seek "summary judgment," determining that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Summary judgment is a judicial proceeding in which the moving party must demonstrate that no material facts are disputed, and it is entitled to judgment in its favor as a matter of law. The Salk Institute in La Jolla made such a motion in a case originally begun by three female faculty members alleging workplace discrimination. Two of the three settled their claims, and the Salk used a motion for summary judgment to dispense with the third woman's claims.

The remaining plaintiff has alleged that she was subject to gender discrimination because she was treated differently than male faculty members. She has alleged that she was routinely excluded from meeting with private donors and representatives of foundations. She also alleged that the Salk routinely denied her professional advancement opportunities. The plaintiff is also contending that the Salk retaliated against her for suing the institute when it failed to renew her contract.

Over the past few decades there have been many efforts to help ensure fair pay between men and women in the workplace. However, a wage and hour dispute isn't usually about any type of pay disparity based on gender; on the contrary, a wage and hour dispute is about getting the right pay that you are entitled to based on your agreed-to wage from your employer and your employment status.

Many wage and hour disputes arise when employers fail to recognize that a certain employee is entitled to overtime pay. Others are based on a failure to pay an employee the correct minimum wage under the law. There even disputes that arise based on conflicts about whether or not an employee should be paid wages while on a break from work.

Many employees in California have relationships with their employers that are governed by employment contracts. The terms of these contracts can be fairly extensive, governing most aspects of the duties and obligations expected from both sides. However, there are some basics about employment contracts that our readers should be familiar with.

For starters, almost all employment contracts will address the length of the term of employment and how employment can be terminated by either side. For instance, the employee may want to include a condition that they can leave at any time with no notice, while the employer will likely seek a defined period of time in which the services of the employee are exclusive to the employer.