Employment law blogs illustrate different sides of the same issue
Through their blogs, multiple LexBlog clients have worked to defend the underdogs: champions of the elderly, immigrants and whistleblower rights are just some of the people we’ve written articles about.
But there are two sides to every issue, and that could not be clearer after looking at a pair of LexBlog client blogs – the Wage & Hour Law Blog and the California Labor & Employment Defense Blog – that essentially work on opposite sides of employment law.
The Wage & Hour Law Blog, published by Charles Yezbak III of the Yezbak Law Offices, focuses on employee rights. Yezbak, A Tennessee-based attorney who has been practicing law for 10 years, notes that his firm is faced with more cases than they have time for.
“We handle a relatively small number of cases at one time,” he says. “As a result, we are forced to turn away a lot of people with real legal needs. This is frustrating.”
While this problem hasn’t gone away, the firm has found various methods to help them: a redesign of their static website is currently underway to give workers access to more legal information. And the blog has been some help, too.
“The problem persists, but we are focusing more on providing free resources for workers to get them headed in the right direction,” Yezbak says. “That is why our blog includes such an extensive wage and hour law resource center.”
Yezbak’s venture into the blogosphere began about a year ago, when he started blogging to provide employees everywhere with reliable and straightforward news on their legal rights. Many, he found, had been given inaccurate information by employers looking to save money. Using his blog, Yezbak – who unlike some employers had no reason to misconstrue the truth – was extending an olive branch to web savvy workers everywhere.
“The blog extends our reach to employees. We can educate people about their rights for free and on their schedule,” he says. “Obviously, the blog doesn’t give legal advice and can’t replace talking to a lawyer. Still, it provides a resource for people who question their employer’s pay practices, [and] I think it also helps workers to see that others are standing up for their rights.”
Over at the California Labor & Employment Defense Blog, written by Anthony Zaller of Van Vleck Turner & Zaller LLP, the focus shifts. Here, employers – not employees – are the target audience.
The blog was started after Zaller, part of the “next generation of legal representation” due to a technologically centered approach to his practice, launched the firm with Brian Van Vleck and Daniel Turner. An attorney with a business education to back up his law school experience, Zaller knew developing an online presence was key.
“The blog is a great way to keep current and potential clients informed about the law,” he says. “I often look at big law firms’ ‘traditional’ newsletters, which invariably take weeks if not months before reaching clients, and have to laugh that the ‘breaking news’ has already been thoroughly analyzed, discussed and debated by bloggers well before these newsletters reach clients.”
Though employers are not traditionally thought of as victims, Zaller’s blog highlights a side of the law that is often overlooked. In one recent post, for example, he highlighted a scam trying to force California employers to pay $100 for a new federal minimum wage poster that is available online for free. In a state with already unique labor policies due to its size and racial demographics, it is important to provide accurate resources that businesses can rely on.
“California employment law is constantly changing, and employers conducting business in California always need to be vigilant in monitoring and being compliant with [the state’s] employment law,” Zaller says. “Whether it be meal and rest break requirements which are unlike any other requirements throughout the rest of the country, or the sick leave mandate adopted in San Francisco, California employment law will continually be a moving target for employers to hit.”
Despite at first glance being competitors, Zaller and Yezbak (and their respective blogs) are in fact not as different from one another as they may appear: these attorneys are providing information to keep individuals on both sides of the employment spectrum in compliance with the law.