Bill SB 796 Sticks Employers By John Franklin - May 11, 2004When Arnold Schwarzenegger took office, he had the pleasure of facing budget, energy, lawsuit, and workers’ compensation disasters.
All of these massive disasters were caused by the previous Democratic-controlled Legislature which did not take into consideration the possibility of over extending the budget and wreaking havoc caused by the bill SB 796 (“bounty hunter bill”) that was put into place September 2003.
Bill SB 796 allows any employee to sue for any discrepancy in the 2,400-page California Labor Codes, even if the code “violation” caused no one any harm. The employer has no right to avoid the lawsuit by fixing the problem. (John Campbell)
An example was when Biotech Company, Amgen, was sued for tens of millions of dollars for posting employee notice signs in the wrong type sizes and for not posting other signs “conspicuously.” (John Campbell)
Even eight movie companies were sued by the same law firm on the same day all over overtime violations. One worker sued the company for working 12 ½ hours and received a pay check that was short $8.63, but the lawsuit is for millions.
The problem is that it doesn’t have to be big corporations getting sued. Any company that has been up and running for 2 years and has 10 or more separate discrepancies at say 20 different companies can sue for $1.04 million with the lawyer and plaintiff getting somewhere around $260,000.
Not only can corporations get sued but even school districts, non-profits, nursing homes and churches are not safe or protected from being sued with frivolous lawsuits.
Joe Dunn, a trial lawyer, is trying to work with the State Legislator to make modifications on the bill, but making corrections is not enough. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants an outright repeal of bill SB 796. |