At 12:15 p.m. on the Friday that he expected to be laid off, Jim, the vice president of sales for a burgeoning high-tech company, sat down at his desk, unpacked his sack lunch and placed the earbuds of his iPod snugly into place while a nondescript pearl-colored cable downloaded 500 megabytes of company data into his iPod. After polishing off his turkey sandwich, Jim had his very own "stimulus plan," equaling 19,000 excel spreadsheets, softly whirring and tucked securely in his sports coat. No one was the wiser.   

As defense counsel for Allen Matkins, Wintersheimer Findley represents corporate entities mired in lawsuits involving wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment and discrimination, as well as wage-and-hour class actions.   

These days, California companies attempting to keep their businesses afloat are facing difficult decisions -- layoffs, reductions in compensation and health benefits, to name a few.   

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday it would be "troubling" if her agency had been "deliberately excluded" from talks about Bank of America Corp.'s (NYSE: BAC) acquisition of Merrill Lynch.   

A federal lawsuit that claims two Mississippi companies lured foreign workers to the United States with false promises of good jobs, then forced them to live in storage buildings, is "unfounded and false," a company president said.   

The community of Canyon Creek was ranchland rich with limestone and cedar trees when Jim Crow held sway in the South. The first house wasn't built until the late 1980s and not even a hint of discrimination attaches to this little slice in suburbia.   

A federal court jury in Denver has awarded $3 million to a former United Airlines employee after finding the company retaliated against her for complaining about discrimination.   

Democratic lawmakers last week urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to support legislation that would make it easier for California farmworkers to join a union.   

According to a recent survey, information you believe is confidential may also be in your competitor's offices. A report from the Ponemon Institute details that companies are doing a poor job preventing former employees from stealing data.   

Employment law encompasses a broad area of the employer/employee relationship, including federal and state statutes, administrative regulations and judicial decisions. For businesses to succeed, they must stay abreast of this ever-shifting area of law. The Daily Transcript asked a few local leaders to share their insight and advice about upcoming and ongoing changes in employment law.   

Wage and hour issues are taking center stage again. The current recession has resulted in increased wage and hour claims filed by unemployed individuals seeking money. With turnover and hiring in flux, new employees assigned to duties requiring expertise in payroll and wage and hour compliance expertise must be provided with adequate training. Here are five strategies to reduce claims filed against your business:   

As businesses are forced to downsize with increasing frequency these days, company officials have to be careful the pink slips are issued properly.   

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Fairfield Greenwich Group, the hedge fund that steered $7 billion to Bernard Madoff, faces new claims of fraud by investors who previously alleged negligence against co-founders Walter Noel, Jeffrey Tucker and Andres Piedrahita.   

A cargo-ship steward who was taken hostage by Somali pirates sued Waterman Steamship Corp. and Maersk Line Ltd. for sending him into what he called “pirate- infested waters” without adequate protection.