Stephen Danz & Associates » Blog

Letter of rec

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:56:03 +0000

March 22,2010

Stephen Danz & Associates
Employment Attorneys
11661 San Vicente Boulevard
Suite 500
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Dear Steve & Associates,

Thank you for your services as attorney at law in my employment case.I was very pleased with the courtesy and professionalism with which you handled this case in every step from beginning to end

Special thanks to Steve Skoloff for his outstanding performanceduring all phases of the litigation, and specially his exceptional skills in handling the depositions. Also , my special thanks to Shauneen Saebfar, Kathy De La Rosa and Rachel Fishenfeld for their excellence in communication and administrative services.

You will always have my highest regards and recommendation. And, I will always have your information at hand for others we may come across that as us “who should we turn to ?”

Its been a pleasure working with you from the beginning this case to a swift and favourable conclusion. thank you again for your extremely competent and professional services.

Regards,
Armen Abajian,
3290 Dusmere Rd,
Glendale, CA 91206,
aabajian@sbcglobal.net

U.S. Senate passes small unemployment extension

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:47:09 +0000

The U.S. Senate passed a defense appropriations bill on Sunday morning that includes an extension of unemployment benefits and other provision that will help many in Michigan during these tough economic times. The House had voted for the same bill earlier last week.

The bill includes an extension of the time the federal government will subsidize COBRA payments to allow unemployed workers to keep their health insurance from nine months to 15 months. It also fixed a glitch in an earlier unemployment extension bill that should help about 70,000 Michigan workers become eligible for an extension of their benefits.

Professor Files Age Discrimination Lawsuit

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:33:11 +0000

An associate professor at Missouri State University has filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the college after she and three other members were reassigned to non-teaching duties, allegedly without cause. According to the lawsuit, Mary Ann Jennings, a social work professor, was removed from the School of Social Work in May 2008 in the midst of a program overhaul. The lawsuit claims she was not given a hearing as required by the faculty handbook, and that the only faculty that were reassigned were 50 years old and older. She is seeking actual damages plus $1 million in punitive damages. Didi Tang, News-Leader 12/21/2009

Our Most Recent Jury Verdict!!

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:13:00 +0000

In one of our cases our plaintiff contended that her co-worker kissed her without her consent. The plaintiff immediately complained to her supervisor and believed that she was retaliated against for her complaints of harassment in that the district manager repeatedly accused her of lying and also reduced her hours. As a result of the harassment, the employer’s failure to conduct a proper investigation, continual badgering of plaintiff and cutting her hours, the working conditions became intolerable and plaintiff felt compelled to resign.

On the other hand, the defendants contended that the kiss was consensual and even if it was not, that the employer took all necessary steps to investigate the harassment and prevent further harassment by separating the harasser from plaintiff and later by suspending him for one week. The employer contended that the reduction in plaintiff’s hours was not retaliatory.

The trial last approximately 2.5 days and the jury deliberated for approximately 7.5 hours. The Plaintiff was awarded a total of $226,208.00 in damages.

US jobless rate reaches 9.8 percent in September

admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:28:57 +0000

Associated Press

US jobless rate reaches 9.8 percent in September

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER

WASHINGTON — The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September as employers cut far more jobs than expected, evidence that the longest recession since the 1930s is still inflicting widespread pain.

The Labor Department said Friday that the economy lost a net total of 263,000 jobs last month, up from a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. That’s above Wall Street economists’ expectations of 180,000 job losses, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent in August, matching expectations.

If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the unemployment rate rose to 17 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

More than a half-million unemployed Americans gave up looking for work last month. Had they continued searching, the official jobless rate would have been higher.

All told, 15.1 million Americans are now out of work, the department said. And more than 7.1 million jobs have been eliminated since the recession began in December 2007.

Many analysts expect the economy grew at a healthy clip in the July-September quarter, technically ending the recession, but few think the recovery will be strong enough to lower the jobless rate. Most economists expect the rate to top 10 percent and keep climbing.

The economy has received a boost from the Cash for Clunkers auto rebate program and other government stimulus efforts, but many economists believe that growth will slow in the current quarter and early next year as the impact of those programs fade.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that even if the economy were to grow at a 3 percent pace in the coming quarters, it would not be enough to quickly drive down the unemployment rate. Bernanke said the rate is likely to remain above 9 percent through the end of 2010.

Persistently high unemployment could weaken the recovery as consumers, concerned about their jobs and incomes, restrain spending. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

Hourly earnings rose by a penny last month, while weekly wages fell $1.54 to $616.11.

The average hourly work week fell back to a record low of 33 in September, the department said. That figure is important because economists are looking for companies to add more hours for current workers before they hire new ones.

California’s unemployment projected to rise

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:10:42 +0000

California’s unemployment projected to rise

www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-17

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — With employment forecast to contract 3.7 percent in 2009, California’s jobless rate will hit 12.2 percent in the fourth quarter and average 11.6 percent for the year, according to a forecast released on Wednesday.

In 2010, employment will grow only at an anemic 0.2 percent rate, said economists at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA ).

Amid high unemployment, California’s emergence from the doldrums will lag the nation’s, but more state exports and an improving housing market will help promote a slow recovery, according to the forecast.

The worst national recession in seven years would likely end this quarter, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast. It echoed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said in Washington, D.C., Tuesday that “from a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point.”

In California, the shrinking numbers of state and local government workers will drag down the economy for the balance of the fiscal year, while unemployment grows and personal income declines, wrote UCLA Anderson Forecast senior economist Jerry Nickelsburg.

”The stalled California economy is simply not producing the jobs required for the new entrants to the labor force over the next couple of years to prevent these elevated levels of unemployment to persist once the job layoffs cease,” he wrote.

But steady improvements can be expected in the housing market, according to Nickelsburg.

”Now that prices have adjusted to levels which make existing homes more affordable, sales are increasing and conditions are becoming ripe for new residential construction,” Nickelsburg wrote.

Also, the demand for California export goods is increasing, and consumer confidence appears poised to rebound.

”Though the consumer goods and services sectors remain very weak, consumer confidence surveys and the response to the ‘cash for clunkers’ program provide indicators that consumer demand may be on the verge of recovery…” he wrote.

Additionally, “the implosion of hospitality, retail wholesale and transportation employment may be coming to an end,” said Nickelsburg.

Overall, the state’s economy will show little or no growth for the balance of the year but begin to show some recovery toward the end of 2010 and in early 2011, Nickelsburg wrote.

Nationally, the effects of the recession will linger “well into the next decade,” according to the forecast.

The recession had its roots in over-indebtedness, and economic recovery will be stalled while consumers, businesses and financial institutions try to balance their books, the forecast said.

”Not only will financial institutions be less willing to lend, but consumers and businesses will be less willing to borrow,” according to the forecast.

The forecast acknowledged signs of growth, likely persisting through next year, but pointed to the swine flu as a potential stumbling block.

”Obviously if the upcoming flu season is anywhere close to the public health prediction, economic activity could suffer from plant and office closings as well as sharp reductions in business and leisure travel, further battering the already hard-hit transportation and hospitality industries,” said UCLA senior economist David Shulman.

Job Losses in U.S. Slow as Unemployment Climbs to 26-Year High

admin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:32:23 +0000

According to Bloomberg News, the U.S. economy lost fewer jobs in August as unemployment climbed to a 26-year high, indicating the recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s will be slow to gain speed.

Companies cut payrolls by 216,000 workers, less than forecast, after a 276,000 drop in July, Labor Department data showed yesterday in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 9.7 percent, higher than anticipated, from 9.4 percent.

The figures stoked concern that a turnaround in the labor market will not begin until well after the recovery is forecast to take hold in the second half of the year. With the ranks of long-term unemployed nearing 5 million, workers are at risk of losing skills, making it difficult to eventually find a job.

Hidden Cameras At Your Workplace

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:21:37 +0000

In Hernandez v. Hillsides, Inc., S147522, a residential facility for abused children, installed a hidden video camera in an office from which it believed someone was accessing pornographic websites after hours. Two clerical employees worked in the office during the day, but were never told about the camera nor did they consent to its use. After discovering the camera, the sued Hillsides for invasion of privacy- a common law tort requiring them to prove an intrusion into some private place, conversation or matter, and in a manner that a reasonable person would find highly offensive. The California Supreme Court will soon decide whether an employer may have invaded the right to privacy of two of its employees when it installed a hidden camera in their office without their knowledge or consent.

Recent Class Action Decisions

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:38:06 +0000

Olvera v. El Pollo Loco (April 27, 2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 447

Plaintiff was the general manager of a restaurant owned and operated by El Pollo Loco. Salvador Amezcua filed a class action complaint against El Pollo Loco. A first amended complaint was filed, adding another Plaintiff to the action. The suit alleged failure to pay overtime, failure to provide meal breaks, unlawful deductions from earnings, failure to provice accurate itemized wage statements, unfair business practices, and conversion. Defendant moved to compel arbitration. The trial court ruled that the arbitration agreement was procedurally and substantively unconscionable. Following Gentry, the Court of Appeal (2nd App. Dist., Div. 3) readily identified procedural unconscionability. The court concluded that inequality in bargaining power between the low-wage employees and their employer makes it likely that the employees felt at least some pressure to sign the acknowledgment and agree to the new dispute resolution policy, whatever they understood that policy to be. Also, the employee’s agreement to be bound by the new dispute resolution policy was not an informed decision. The explanatory materials provided to the employees stated that the new dispute resolution policy was that employees should first contact management to resolve any problem and then, if the problem was not resolved in that manner, mediation was required. The Court of Appeal also found substantive unconscionability.

This is another example of the courts recent decisions to marginalize employer-drafted arbitration agreements .

Workman’s Compensation Appeals Board

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:18:04 +0000

We recently met with over 500 California Workman’s Compensation attorneys at their bi-annual summer convention at Squaw Creek Resort. The meeting provided many new insights into the laws (which are evolving almost daily!) protecting “applicants”, those workers injured in both the “course” and “scope” of their employment. Fortunately for our mutual clients, Labor Code 132a continues to provide dual tracks of protection: a 132a claim in work comp for being terminated for filing a claim and a parallel right to file a civil action in court for termination in violation of public policy. It is this latter tort that our firm specializes in. Interestingly, a small non-permanent injury can provide the basis for a wrongful termination case if it is work-related. As opposed to the Government Code definition of discrimination, which requires a permanent or semi-permanent injury.