• Home
  • Offices
  • About Us
    • Our Firm
    • Client Testimonials
    • Extraordinary Successes
    • Legal Guides
    • Legal Definitions
    • Press Center
    • Referrals
    • Scholarship
    • Staff
  • Attorneys
  • Cases
    • Car, Bike & Motorcycle Crashes
    • Civil Rights Attorney
    • Elder Abuse & Neglect Attorney
    • Employment Attorney
    • San Francisco Personal Injury Attorney | Dolan Law Firm, PC
    • Uber Accidents & Lyft Crashes
    • California Fire Law
  • Blog
  • COVID-19 Guide
  • Espanol
  • Contact Us
Free Case Review415-421-2800

March

Home
/
2019
/
March

Lactation in the workplace

Set of restroom, nursing room, lactation room placard sign.

This week’s question comes from Ana in San Francisco, who writes:

Q: I am ending my maternity leave next week. I would like to send an email to my manager to ask about my employer’s policy on lactation breaks and request a private room where I can express milk for my baby. However, I am worried that I may be asking for too much since the company is small (only 25 employees in my office, but approximately 75 in the Bay Area) and I already took a lot of time off after giving birth for my recovery and for baby bonding. I do not have my own office and I do not want to pump in a bathroom stall, as I am worried that it would be unsanitary. I heard San Francisco has extra protections for nursing mothers. What are my rights?

A: Thank you for your question, Ana, and congratulations on your baby. I am glad you were able to take sufficient time after giving birth for your own recovery and for baby bonding. You are correct: San Francisco increased protections for nursing mothers and expanded the existing requirements for San Francisco employers under federal and California law beginning Jan. 1, 2018.

Under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (which applies to business of 50 or more employees), employers must provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for one year following the birth of a child in a private location other than a bathroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public.

California Labor Code requires employers to provide a reasonable amount of break time to accommodate employees who want to express milk for their baby and to make reasonable efforts to provide the employee with a room, other than a toilet stall, in close proximity to the employee’s work area.

Under San Francisco’s Lactation in the Workplace Ordinance (which applies to nearly all San Francisco employers, as there are no minimum employee threshold that may exempt smaller employers from coverage) the lactation location must also:

– Be available as needed

– Be safe, clean and free of toxic hazardous materials

– Have a place to sit, a table or desk or surface on which to place a breast pump and other personal items

– Have access to electricity, a sink with running water and a refrigerator

The lactation location may be designated for other purposes, but employees must be notified that lactation use takes priority over other uses for the room.

Moreover, the employer must maintain a written lactation accommodation policy that includes a statement of the right to request a lactation accommodation and the process for requesting accommodation. It must also state that, if in response to a request for accommodation, the employer does not provide the accommodation, the employer must provide a written response that identifies the basis for denial of the request and a notice that retaliation in response to a request is prohibited.

This policy must be distributed upon hire, included in any employee policy handbook and must be provided to any employee who asks about or requests pregnancy or parental leave.

read more

Reporting sexual harassment in the gig economy

Employers, gig or otherwise, can be sued for economic, non-economic, or punitive damages in the millions of dollars.
Employers, gig or otherwise, can be sued for economic, non-economic, or punitive damages in the millions of dollars. 

This week’s question comes from K, who asks:

Q:“I am female and I work at events that are staffed by Instawork, Wonolo and other gig agencies. We get gigs through these companies to work at various events. One of these events was being catered by a very famous gourmet company [name withheld]. The catering companies contact Instawork and Wonolo to send workers to provide bartender and waitstaff. Some of the gig workers provided by these companies are sexually harassing myself and other female workers by pawing into us. They usually walk up behind me and put their hands on the flat of my back, or down lower towards my butt. One grabbed my arm from behind. Some give you a pat on the back right where your bra is fastened. Sometimes, they brush against me in ways that are unwanted and inappropriate. This is happening not only to me, it is also happening to other women. It is sexually suggestive and doesn’t happen to the men.
I have reported this to the catering company. They say it is not their problem and that I need to contact Instawork. I have tried to make an anonymous complaint to Instawork but couldn’t get through without giving my name. I am afraid if I tell them they won’t send me to gigs anymore.
There is no clear reporting mechanism, a lack of sufficient training on harassment and discrimination, and little or no supervision by the companies who send you the jobs or the companies where you work. I have been putting up with this for years, and I am fed up. Can you write in your column what the law is so I can send it to the companies?”

A: Dear K, the emergence of the gig economy has led to an upswing of complaints such as yours. These companies believe that they owe their “gig labor force” none of the protections which cover full-time employees. Sometimes this is the result of ignorance, sometimes it is the result of the gig employers just not giving a damn about their labor force.

Sexual harassment can include verbal statements, comments, jokes, written comments, emails, “dick pics,” touching, inappropriate physical presence (sitting on a desk with crotch inches from the face, blocking freedom of movement, etc.) and other unwanted conduct. The key is that the conduct is unwanted and has its basis in sexual connotation or abuse of power.

Under California Government Code Section 12940(a) conduct arises to the level of sexual harassment “when the harassing conduct sufficiently offends, humiliates, distresses, or intrudes upon its victim, so as to disrupt the victim’s emotional tranquility in the workplace, affect the victim’s ability to perform the job as usual, or otherwise interfere with and undermine the victim’s personal sense of well-being.” It suffices to prove that a reasonable person subjected to the discriminatory conduct would find that the harassment altered working conditions so much as to make it more difficult to do the job.

Section (b) of 12940 states that even a single incident of severe harassing conduct is enough to create a triable issue regarding the existence of a hostile work environment if the harassing conduct has unreasonably interfered with the plaintiff’s work performance or created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. “The existence of a hostile work environment depends upon the totality of the circumstances . . . and the legal standard for sexual harassment should not vary by type of workplace.” 12940(c)&(d).

Pursuant to Section (j)(1), “harassment of an employee, an applicant, an unpaid intern or volunteer, or a person providing services pursuant to a contract by an employer . . . shall be unlawful if the entity, or its agents or supervisors, knows or should have known of this conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.”

A person “providing services pursuant to a contract” means a person who meets all of the following criteria: (A) The person has the right to control the performance of the contract for services and discretion as to the manner of performance. (B) The person is customarily engaged in an independently established business. (C) The person has control over the time and place the work is performed, supplies the tools and instruments used in the work, and performs work that requires a particular skill not ordinarily used in the course of the employer’s work.

Employers, gig or otherwise, can be sued for economic, non-economic, or punitive damages in the millions of dollars. It is also illegal to retaliate against anyone making a complaint. Our firm has recovered hundreds of millions in discrimination, harassment and retaliation cases.

Send both the “gig” employer and the catering company a copy of this letter and hopefully they will take appropriate action. Make a paper trial so you can prove it was delivered. If they continue to ignore your rights, contact a good trial lawyer to take action on your behalf.

read more

Go slow in the rain

There are two types of hydroplaning: viscous hydroplaning, associated with lower speeds on roads with little to no texture, and dynamic hydroplaning, which can cause total lack of control over steeting and braking.

This week’s question comes from Holly H. in Berkeley, who asks:

Q:“My wife was traveling on a roadway which has a 45 mile an hour limit. It had been raining very heavily for several days but the weather had cleared for at least 4 hours.  She was driving about 30 and everything was fine. As she came around a bend, there was an a huge lake of water in her lane. Her car lost traction, she couldn’t break or steer, and she crossed into the other lane colliding with another car. Thank God no one was seriously injured but someone could have been killed.  After the collision a nearby neighbor came out and said that there was a storm drain which had been backing up there all year and despite calls to the Public Works Department nothing had been done and this was the third accident there this year.  What rights do people have when the drains are not being maintained and they are harmed?”

A: Holly, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the second greatest factor in causing collisions (2 percent) is environmental conditions such as rain, snow, etc.(The greatest factor, 94 percent, is human error.)

What you describe is the phenomena known as “hydroplaning.” On wet or flooded pavement hydrodynamic pressure increases as the speed of the vehicle increases eventually leading to the tire losing contact with the roadway.   There are two types of hydroplaning: 1) viscous hydroplaning or 2) dynamic hydroplaning. Viscous hydroplaning is a problem associated with low speed operation on pavements with little or no texture. We see this frequently in rear end collisions during or following rainy conditions. Dynamic hydroplaning occurs in situations with a more significant depth of water as a water wedge is driven between a moving tire and the pavement surface causing a complete separation of tire and roadway. What you describe is full dynamic hydroplaning, a serious life and safety hazard, causing a total lack of control over steering and braking.

Under California Law a government entity: city, county, or state, can be held liable for a dangerous condition of public property if they fail to maintain the roadways, and drainage, in a reasonably safe condition.  The condition must cause more than a trivial risk of harm of the type that was suffered and the entity needs to have actual or constructive knowledge of the condition with sufficient time to remedy it and have failed to do so.

Actual knowledge is when they know about the condition by seeing it themselves, being informed by others, or when they themselves cause the condition to exist.  Constructive notice is when the condition, and its dangerousness, should be apparent to them by a reasonable inspection system or, perhaps, in this situation if they have had to come clean this drain numerous times or they are aware of numerous accidents happening under the same conditions.

I have handled many similar cases as the one you present here. Most involve known flooding areas, improperly constructed roadways and/or blocked or broken drains.  Unfortunately, these conditions can often prove deadly.

It appears that the entity had actual notice based on the neighbor’s complaints. Additional evidence of notice can be obtained by obtaining DPW documents pertaining to the drainage at that site. 

A usual defense is that the driver was traveling too fast for the conditions (Veh. Code 22350). Given the break in the rain, your wife’s reduced speed, and the fact that the pool of water was around a corner, this defense could probably be surmounted.

My best advice to everyone, check your tread depth (it should be at least  4/32 in the front and 2/32 in the rear ), properly inflate your tires and as my daughter says “avoid the pain, go slow in the rain.”

read more

Categories

  • Bicycle Accidents (101)
  • Brain Injuries (5)
  • Bus Accidents (13)
  • Car Accidents (189)
  • Case News (10)
  • Civil Rights (34)
  • COVID-19 (24)
  • Elder Abuse (17)
  • Employment Law (78)
  • Fire & Burn Injuries (16)
  • Firm News (50)
  • Free Speech (7)
  • LGBT (10)
  • Motorcycle Accidents (125)
  • MUNI (9)
  • Pedestrian Accidents (109)
  • Personal Injury (70)
  • Police Misconduct (7)
  • Policy (5)
  • Premises Liability (24)
  • Privacy (38)
  • Product Liability (25)
  • Professional Misconduct (7)
  • Self Driving Car (6)
  • Special Needs Students (6)
  • Taxi Cab Crash (3)
  • Tenant/Renter Rights (4)
  • Truck Accidents (16)
  • Uber/Lyft Accidents (19)
  • Uncategorized (14)
  • Whistleblower Law (9)
  • Wrongful Death (19)

Recent Posts

  • Reckless Driving during COVID-19
  • Parents Rights on Children Education during COVID-19
  • What you need to know about hate crimes in the Bay Area
  • Celebrating Cesar Chavez Day 2021
  • E-Bikes — How to Stay Safe While Having Fun
Subscribe To This Blog's Feed
FindLaw Network
  • Click To Call Us
  • Email Us
  • Our Offices
  • About Us

San Francisco 415-421-2800

Oakland 510-486-2800

Los Angeles213-347-3529

Toll-Free 800-339-0352

Dolan Shield

Dolan Law Firm PC
1438 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

415-421-2800
San Francisco Law Office Map

Dolan Law Firm PC
1498 Alice Street
Oakland, CA 94612
510-486-2800
Oakland Law Office Map

Dolan Law Firm PC
1000 Wilshire Blvd #2150
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-347-3529
Los Angeles Law Office Map

Oakland 510-486-2800

Dolan Shield

Dolan Law Firm PC
1498 Alice Street
Oakland, CA 94612
510-486-2800

Oakland Law Office Map

San Francisco 415-421-2800

Dolan Shield

Dolan Law Firm PC
1438 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

415-421-2800

San Francisco Law Office Map

© 2017 by Dolan Law Firm PC. All rights reserved. Blog | Legal Guides | Disclaimer | Privacy | Site Map