Labor and Employment in California: A Guide to Employment Laws, Regulations, and Practices

Bernadette M. O’Brien is a partner at Floyd, Skeren & Kelly, LLP, a leading workers‘ compensation defense firm, and managing attorney of the law firm‘s employment law department. Ms. O‘Brien is also a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). She provides advice and counsel to employers, human resource administrators, risk managers and claims adjusters on numerous workplace topics including policy development and implementation; employee discipline/ workplace investigations; the prevention of workplace claims for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and/or wrongful termination; wage and hour compliance; the crossover issues related to workers‘ compensation and the Fair Employment and Housing Act/Americans with Disabilities Act; leave of absence policies; pregnancy; privacy rights; social media policies; unemployment insurance claims; and, employee handbook development. Ms.O‘Brien also conducts management/human resource training and compliance sessions throughout California, both private-on-site, and open for the public. Prior to Ms. O‘Brien‘s association with Floyd, Skeren & Kelly, LLP she practiced civil litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants in numerous areas of law including personal injury, business and employment. Ms. O‘Brien is author of the popular LexisNexis publication Labor and Employment in California: A Guide to Employment Laws, Regulations and Practices, which has been in publication since 1992. The treatise is an easy-to-understand overview of key topics in labor and employment as governed by both federal and Californialaw.

Ms. O‘Brien is also co-author of California Unemployment Insurance and Disability CompensationPrograms, which is a helpful treatise on California unemployment insurance and disability laws. Ms.O‘Brien is a frequent contributor to, and reporter for, the LexisNexis employment law newsletter and she is editor and developer of Floyd, Skeren & Kelly‘s employment related websites www.employmentlawweekly.com, www.worklawreport,www.employmentlawacademy.com, and www.fskhrtraining.com, which cover the latest court cases andlegislation related to employment law. She has been a speaker on a variety of employment law topics fornumerous organizations including CalPelra, CWC, PIHRA, Ag-Safe, EAC, Northern CaliforniaWorkers‘ Comp Forum, Intercare, National Interstate Insurance, CASBO, Strafford Webinars and theEmployer‘s Fraud Task Force. You can reach Bernadette M. O‘Brien at bernadette.obrien@fsklaw.com, (818) 206-9222, or (916) 838-3332.