How At-Will are Your At-Will Employees, Are Your Hourly Employees Exempt, Are Your Non-Exempt Employees Salaried: Compliant Employee Classifications and Status Explained
At-will employment, in its simplest terms, means an employee can be terminated at any time for almost any reason, with or without an explanation or warning as long as the termination doesn’t violate employee rights or labor laws. In reality, there ARE limitations to at-will employment and what is stated in your employment contracts may affect your employees’ status in ways you hadn’t considered. Additionally, some of the most significant class action lawsuits have been the result of an employer's misclassification of nonexempt employees as exempt from California overtime. Attend this session for a deep dive into at-will vs. term employment, the two-part exemption test and the various implications and varied requirements for each type of employee to ensure your organization’s employment relationships are the right ones.
Presented by
Jennifer McQuarrie
Lawyer
Law Office of Jennifer McQuarrie
Jennifer McQuarrie engages with CSDC as an advisor and guest instructor on charter school policy and legal matters. Jennifer leads the development and delivery of several legal workshops at our Summer Leadership Intensive, Spring CBO Training Program, and Fall Leadership Update Conference. She also conducts regular updates to CSDC’s Sample Charter School Operating Policies, a critical resource to our CSDC members. Jennifer specializes in charter school representation and employment litigation and has been practicing law for over 17 years. Prior to opening her own practice where she represents charter schools throughout the state, she was the Legal Counsel and Legislative Advocate for CSDC. She focused primarily on providing a wide range of advice on school policies, personnel and student issues, including those relating to governing board policies, conflicts of interest, student discipline, employment related matters, Brown Act compliance and other related matters. Jennifer also spent a year as General Counsel for St. HOPE Public Schools and St. HOPE Corporation, which opened Sacramento High School as a charter school in 2003. Before joining the charter movement, Jennifer practiced law in several international law firms as a corporate litigator focusing on employment disputes, lender liability, unfair competition, securities fraud and other business disputes.