WIN AT WORK MONTHLY
|
A Community Service of DON D. SESSIONS, A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORP., Employee Rights Attorneys |
| ||||
|
|
Win At Work WINNING SHOULD NOT BE A BATTLE Winning at work should not be a battle. There is an attitude between employees and management of “us” against “them.” Unfortunately, conflict not only produces one loser, but usually two. The only sure winners are us attorneys who are paid to manage the fight. Winning is better accomplished by both sides achieving that goal. Mutual success breeds cooperation and desire for continued success. There are other benefits as well. Happy employees tend to work harder, which causes better production, which makes management happy. Instead of producing one or two losers, it can be a mutual, self‑perpetuating win. It starts with rising above positional bargaining to sincerely see each other’s interests. Until one side says, “I really want to understand your needs,” will the other side ever listen to yours. The term “win‑win” has become popular in the last few decades, and for good reason. It should be and can be the achievable goal in every workplace. |
Employee Rights Update MISCLASSIFIED MANAGERS RECOVER $8 MILLION Agency, Rent-a-Car, a national car rental firm recently paid $8 million for failing to pay overtime to its workers who were improperly classified as exempt managers. One of its managers filed a claim for overtime and won, then Agency appealed. He then filed a class action suit on behalf of all other managers. He was able to show that Agency did not meet the managerial exemption requirement in that the managers mostly performed the same work as other workers. In many offices, they didn’t supervise two or more employees more than half of their time, as required. Agency’s problems were compounded with the lack of time records for their salary exempt managers, or those they thought were exempt. Unfortunately, Agency’s confusion is very common on this issue. No one should think that paying salary automatically means an employee is exempt or that an impressive title is enough. Valuable overtime rights may await those of you who know the rules. |
| ||
|
|
Update on our attorneys - The Orange County Register has joined The Los Angeles Times in featuring our answers to employee rights questions on a weekly basis. Look for our articles in The Register’s Business Monday Magazine or The Times’ Sunday Business Section. James Reed, our 27-year litigation veteran, attended a seminar on “Selecting a Jury.” We expanded our office with 3 additional attorney offices, 6 secretary/law clerk carrels, storage room and a conference room. | ||||
|
Look for our answers to employees’ questions in the "Shop Talk" column of the Times’ Sunday Business Section or the Register’s "Business Monday" Section. Click here to add (or here to delete) your E-mail address to or from our monthly mailing list. For more employee rights information, 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, mailto:attorneys@job-law.com. The Win at Work portion of Win at Work Monthly is from our ongoing syndicated column appearing in Times/Mirror Publications (including Los Angeles Jobs and Orange County Jobs) 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. ©2000 by Don D. Sessions. |
| ||||