August 2005
WIN AT WORK MONTHLY
A Community Service of SESSIONS & KIMBALL LLP, Employee Rights Attorneys
Win at Work	Employee Rights Update
ILLEGAL JOB ADS “Earn $1 million working at home!” Job advertisements may promise considerably more than they deliver. But if job advertisements aren’t truthful, the employer may later face claims of breach of contract, fraud or even criminal liability. Job advertisements must not only be truthful, they cannot indicate a preference, limitation, or discriminate in their offer of employment. Specific requirements of a job must be reasonable, actual ones required to perform the job. If you don’t get the job and were more qualified than whoever did, file a claim with the EEOC or its state counterpart. The company may be fined, required to pay you past wages, or give you the job. Even if you wouldn’t have been hired anyway, you still have rights if you were denied a chance to apply or compete for the job. Ads, as written documents, provide indisputable evidence that may hold employers liable for illegal hiring practices. You may get that $1 million after all!	MEAL BREAK RULES APPLY TO UNION MEMBER EMPLOYEES California Labor Code § 512 states that employees must be provided with at least a 30‑minute meal break if they work more than five hours per day. If the employee works less than six hours, the meal break may be waived by the mutual consent of both the employee and the employer. A second meal break must be provided if an employee works for more than ten hours per day, and may be waived by mutual consent if the employee works less than twelve hours. In Valles v. Ivy Hill Corporation (2005) the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals recently ruled that federal law does not permit parties to waive non-negotiable state rights through the use of a collective bargaining agreement. This means that union members must be given meal breaks as required by California law. Finally, the penalty for not being allowed to take a meal break is one hour’s pay for each day a break is not provided. Michael S. Ahmad, Attorney
Look for our answers to employees’ questions in the “Life and Work Q & A” column of the Orange County Register’s "Business Monday" magazine. E-mail us at info@job-law.com to have your address added or removed from our monthly mailing list. For more employee rights information or for past issues of Win at Work Monthly, click here for our website, job-law.com; here to order our book, Employee Rights in California; or contact our office directly at 23456 Madero, Suite 170, Mission Viejo, CA 92691, (949) 380-0900, (800) 774-7494, info@job-law.com. The Win at Work portion of Win at Work Monthly is from our ongoing syndicated column, which appears in the Los Angeles Times’ “Career Builder Magazine” and elsewhere. Win at Work Monthly is intended for general information and should not be construed as legal advice or opinion. Readers in need of legal advice should promptly retain the services of an attorney. ©2005 by Sessions & Kimball LLP