Recent Blog Posts
🎄Company Holiday Parties: Festive Fun or Legal Minefield?Â
As the holiday season approaches, many San Jose and Silicon Valley, businesses are planning festive gatherings to celebrate the year’s achievements and foster camaraderie among employees. While holiday parties can boost morale and strengthen workplace culture, they also carry legal risks that employers must carefully navigate under California’s stringent employment laws. Alcohol Liability and Harassment Claims Serving alcohol at… Read More »
Reasonable Accommodations at Work When You’re Pregnant
You may already be aware that it is illegal for your employer to discriminate against you for being pregnant, and that you must be provided leave time from work, for pregnancy related issues, and be allowed to remain home after the child’s birth to care for the child. But what a lot of workers… Read More »
Can You Be Punished for Raising Safety Concerns at Work?
If you work in an industry that can be considered dangerous, your employer must follow the safety guidelines set forth by the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration’s (OSHA) guidelines. More businesses than you may think have OSHA guidelines that they must follow, and the guidelines apply even if you aren’t in a “dangerous” industry,… Read More »
Stay or Pay Agreements Will Become Officially Illegal January 2026
Because noncompete agreements tended to be disfavored nationally, and in California, have long been banned, employers started to seek out other ways of punishing employees who leave their employment. One way to do that was with what was known as a Stay or Pay provision or agreement. What is Stay or Pay? A stay… Read More »
Payment for being On-Call and Standby Time
Many of us work jobs that are on call at least some of the time (Also sometimes called standby time) They may be jobs that are formally on call-imagine someone who repairs computers that can be called into work for emergencies any time. In other cases, employees may be informally on call—imagine a situation… Read More »
Don’t Make These Social Media Mistakes in Your Wrongful Termination Case
There’s an old saying that a picture tells a thousand words. That’s true on social media, where even just a picture has said enough to ruin or damage someone’s employment law case. Yes, it’s Evidence We tend to post on social media without much thought. It’s our account, on our page or site, so… Read More »
Things You May Not Have Known About Punching or Clocking In and Out
Do you punch in and out of work using a time clock? That seemingly straightforward machine or software, or the simple act of punching in and out, actually carries a lot of legal requirements, to make it legal. When employers violate these laws, they could end up owing you money for unpaid hours or… Read More »
Were You Fired for Being Out Sick? You May Have an Unfair Termination Case
If you have a severe disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects you at work, and prevents you from being fired so long as reasonable accommodations to your job can be made. But what about “just being sick?” In the Middle The reality is that being sick doesn’t put us out of work… Read More »
Secondhand or Secondary Sexual Harassment Claims
Let’s say that you are speaking to a friend that you work with, and he or she tells you that people at work are saying things about you. In fact, they’re doing more than just saying things. They’re talking about your sex life, your body, and other invasive and intrusive and offensive things about… Read More »
Costanzo Law Firm Files Lawsuit Against Kaiser Permanente for Age Discrimination and Retaliation
Case alleges Kaiser failed to establish protocols, training, and vendor support, then scapegoated senior nurse after decades of service San Jose, CA – August 19, 2025 – Costanzo Law Firm, APC has filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court on behalf of longtime nurse Felicidad Tran against The Permanente Medical Group, Inc.,… Read More »
