New Owner Can Take Away Perks--but Not Your Rights

Q. I signed a work contract with my company 20 years ago. Just recently my company was bought out by a competitor.

I want to know if the contract that I signed as a salesman for my old company is in effect with the new company even though the compensation is totally different.

For example, in my old position, I received a car allowance, an expense budget and a salary plus commission. In the new company I get none of these. I now receive a portion of the profit margin, if there is any. If there is none, the loss is subtracted from my check.

My new employer says the old contract is transferable but they want me to sign a new work contract. If I don’t I will be let go, but they still plan to hold me to a clause in the old contract prohibiting me from working for a competitor for a year.

--K.B., Westminster

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A. Your contractual agreement not to work for a competitor may be illegal and thus unenforceable by your new employer. Although an employer can restrict an employee from using the employer’s trade secrets and confidential information, anti-competition clauses are generally illegal under California’s Business and Professions Code. Additionally, California courts are very reluctant to prohibit an employee from engaging in his or her chosen profession.

Generally, a new employer is free to accept existing contracts. If it does so, it must accept the whole contract and is not free to pick and choose which provisions it will enforce. But the new company also can reject the old contract and institute a new set of employment conditions. Thus, the new employer may be able to take away all of your perks and change your wages.

An employer cannot deduct its losses from an employee’s earnings, however. You are entitled to be paid for the hours that you work, even if the employer shows no profit. However, your employer may be able to change your wages--cutting them from $5 per hour to $4 per hour, for example.

I suggest seeking out an employment lawyer who specializes in representing employees.

--William H. Hackel III

Employment law attorney

San Clemente

Forced Into Retirement

Q. If a person has not reached the legal retirement age but knows that he is being forced to retire by the employer, how can the person fight against this?

--N.S., Rancho Cucamonga

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A. For most industries, there is no set age at which an employer can force you to retire. This would probably constitute age discrimination. If it involves a retirement plan there may be violations of the federal law, known as ERISA, governing retirement plans.

Determine whether you are being replaced by a younger person. Simply tell your employer in a respectful way that such an action is improper and possibly illegal. You might put your response in writing.

If you have already been forced to retire, consider going to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing at the state level, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the federal level or to an attorney.

--Don D. Sessions

Employee rights attorney

Mission Viejo

A Personal Decision

Q. I’m working in a job that I like, and get along with my co-workers. I’m wondering when, if any, is a good time to tell my co-workers that I am gay.

I am afraid that the good working relationship might be affected and that my future with the company might also be damaged if I tell them. But it is difficult when they ask me about my personal life. What should I do?

--V.A., Pomona

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A. This is a very personal decision that can only be made by you. In making this decision, you should consider how close and personal your relationships are with co-workers and how much you share with one another information about your personal lives.

Hopefully, your co-workers value and respect you as a person and a colleague and telling them will not affect your good working relationships. However, this disclosure should not in any way adversely affect your employment status or future with the company. If it does, you need to take steps immediately--including possible legal action--to deal with any such problems.

--Ron Riggio, director

Kravis Leadership Institute

Claremont McKenna College

Rankings of Job Applicants

Q. While interviewing for a fire paramedic job in Northern California, my son was asked to identify other departments where he had also applied and where he stood in the rankings. Is this approach legal or ethical?

--G.S., Altadena

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A. Yes. While the right to privacy precludes employers from questioning job applicants about personal issues unrelated to work, it is reasonable and appropriate for an employer to ask an applicant where he or she has applied for a job.

Particularly with respect to highly competitive jobs such as paramedic positions, an employer has a legitimate reason to gauge an applicant’s level of interest in a job before proceeding further with his or her application.

For example, if your son was a highly ranked applicant for a higher-paying or more prestigious job, the department interviewing him might prefer to focus its resources on other qualified applicants who are more interested in working there.

--James J. McDonald Jr.

Attorney, Fisher & Phillips

Labor law instructor, UC Irvine