By Brianna M. Neasham

Employees considering whether to file a civil lawsuit against their employer for work-related misconduct may be unaware of the procedural hoops they must jump through before they may be eligible to pursue civil litigation in a court of law.

This frequently involves filing a complaint with an Administrative Agency established by Congress or the State of California to handle grievances that occur under its particular purview.

For example:

• The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) – a law that allows for lawsuits based upon discrimination, harassment and retaliation, requires that individuals must exhaust their administrative remedies with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) before they are entitled to file a civil lawsuit.  (Cal. Government Code §12965(b).)  This process involves filing a complaint with the DFEH and obtaining a “right-to-sue” letter before initiating litigation.  Failure to do so within the one year time limit may cause the employee to lose their right to bring a suit in Court under FEHA.

These administrative requirements are not limited to California statutory based claims but include almost all major federal and state statutory based employment based claims, including but not limited to, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Claims, and Title VII discrimination claims.

The rationale behind requiring parties to exhaust administrative remedies is that the agencies assigned to initially investigate claims have specialized knowledge and experience with respect to interpretation and enforcement of the various labor and employment statutes.  Additionally, the administrative scheme was designed to promote conciliation between the employee and employer by avoiding litigation through the introduction of a third party neutral (the administrative agency) as the first step.

Unfortunately, rather than serving to expedite or provide for non-litigation based resolution of the claims, more often than not, the administrative remedy requirement serve only as a bar to litigation for individual employees unfamiliar with these prerequisites.  It is not uncommon for employer defendants to rely upon these requirements as an opportunity to potentially dismiss a lawsuit due to the procedural deficiency in a plaintiff employee’s complaint.

In addition to acting as a bar to otherwise legitimate lawsuits, exhausting administrative remedies can also be a lengthy and time consuming process depending upon the agency and the particular investigative process – delaying the litigation process, the potential loss of witnesses over time, and compounding the effects of your unemployment.   However, there are some mechanisms to expedite the process depending upon the discretionary authority of the agency and different procedural options.

An experienced employment and labor attorney can assist you with navigating this process and properly presenting your claims.  We encourage you to consult with an attorney at the earliest convenience to determine if your claims are subject to an administrative remedy scheme.

Thousands of couples will get married on Valentine’s Day this year.

Marriage is the one of the most important legal relationships we enter in our lifetime, yet most people do not think to ask questions about their legal rights before they marry because of the perception that marriage is “til death do us part.”  According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Health Statistics Reports No. 49, over 50% of first marriages will end at some point in divorce or separation. Many of these breakups will involve distribution of property and/or co-parenting children in separate households.

Look before you leap. Spending some time with an experienced family law attorney before you marry could clarify how both you and your betrothed view your marriage while things are going well, so that there is less disruption in the future if you separate.

For more information see www.cdc.gov/nchs/mardiv.htmstate_tables.

"Assembly Bill 224 is designed to enable community-supported agriculture businesses, or CSAs, to prepare and ship their own products … who grow fruits and vegetables, shell eggs or value-added farm products and sell them directly to consumers through subscription…"

"…now must register. They're also required to specify whether their farm products come from a single producer or multiple farms."

"…Until now, CSAs have not been regulated…"

".…Without this bill county health departments would have adopted county ordinances which would regulate CSAs differently from county to county…"

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If you have any questions regarding CSA’s or any other agriculture issues contact Chad Vierra or call him at Neasham & Kramer LLP, (916) 853-8030.