Over the past few years, the Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement (DSLE) has conducted an average of 9,000 investigations a year. This past September, the DSLE performed a statewide audit of 162 restaurants, 79 of which were issued citations totaling about $500,000 in fines for [...]

In United States v. Easterday, 539 F.3d 1176 (9th Cir. 2008), the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a conviction and 30-month prison sentence for Mr. Easterday’s willful failure to pay about $20,000 in withheld employee payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Easterday operated multiple nursing homes in California. Although Easterday accurately stated the corporation’s tax liabilities in its tax filings, and acknowledged that he repeatedly [...]

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law. The PPACA amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to require employers with 50 or more employees to provide break time for non-exempt nursing mothers. Employers with less than 50 employees "are not subject to the FLSA [nursing] break time requirement if compliance with the provision would impose an undue hardship." Whether an undue hardship exists is a grey area that requires [...]

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued guidance to employers regarding (1) employees who are entitled to take leave as a parent pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); and (2) implementing the break time requirement for nursing mothersas required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Who is a Parent (in loco parentis)?

In [...]

Fraud statutes exist so those who have been defauded have legal recourse. If a hacker empties an individual's personal account, the bank usually must cover most, if not all, of the losses sustained. But the fraud protections implemented to protect the consumer have left businesses completely on their own. Unlike personal deposits which are regulated, commercial deposits have very little legal protection. Regulation E of the Federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act (the "Act") requires banks to reimburse consumer [...]