Month: September 2012

The most homogenous place on Earth?

by Mark I. Schickman Remembering that employment discrimination has been illegal for less than 50 years, workplace accommodation has come a long way. The first accommodation laws protected people with cancer, back when cancer was feared to be contagious. The law was put to the test when it was applied to protect people infected with […]

“Deferred action” policy now in place for immigrant youth

by Elaine Young President Barack Obama recently announced a new immigration enforcement policy that opens new doors to thousands of immigrant youths. An estimated 800,000 young people have graduated from American high schools but aren’t authorized to work in the United States because they are here unlawfully. The new policy gives them a degree of […]

Ex-EEOC employee met requirements to pursue disability claim against agency

by Nancy Williams Just as private-sector workers are required to file an administrative charge of discrimination before filing a lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal employees also have prefiling requirements. In a disability discrimination case against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the 9th Circuit recently decided that the […]

Pinpoint Compensation Problems Before They Turn into Lawsuits

Special from Atlanta—SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition Regular audits of compensation practices are critical, says Payscale, Inc.’s Stacey Carroll, M.B.A., CCP, SPHR. You may find ways to save the company vast amounts of money, and the data you need to do it are already on hand. Check compa-ratios, check external equity, see who’s over the […]

HRAs Not the Only Way to Start a Wellness Program

Health risk assessments and biometrics, while an important source of wellness data, are not always the best place to start when implementing a wellness program, a wellness expert said in a Thompson Interactive webinar. “Think through your culture and what you’ve been doing,” said Brad Cooper, CEO of US Corporate Wellness. Many companies started with […]

Health Plans Suffer Diminishing Ability to Recover in Subro Cases

Plans face new a new erosion of their powers to recover the full amount of benefits paid in third-party recovery cases. Attorneys with Epstein Becker and Green discussed these and other trends in a Sept. 13 audio conference on benefit claim denial litigation. Plans Face Diminishing Ability to Recover The growing ability of plaintiffs to […]

Train Your Trainers Not To Make These Mistakes

Weiss is director of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a legal compliance training company associated with the Seyfarth Shaw law firm. His remarks originally appeared in our sister publication, the HR Manager’s Legal Reporter. What Can Go Wrong Weiss suggested that trainers check to be sure they avoid the following common problems: Training from the Bottom […]

Are Your Trainers Well Trained?

Weiss is director of Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a legal compliance training company associated with the Seyfarth Shaw law firm. He says that courts (and opposing attorneys) will explore such things as the content of the training course, how much money is spent on training, and the trainer’s background and competency. His remarks originally appeared […]

Many Arizona state employees become “at will”

by Tammy Binford Most new state government workers in Arizona soon will be at-will employees thanks to a new law overhauling the state personnel system that goes into effect September 29. The new law consolidates nine different personnel systems in the executive branch and converts new hires, attorneys, supervisors, and several other high-level employees to […]

Labor Law Under Obama or Romney–Employers Brace for Post-Election Changes

Eye on the Election Here’s the first in our series of “Eye on the Election” posts which are focused on helping employers prepare for post-election changes, no matter who is elected. For today’s topic of likely labor law and NLRB actions after the election we turned to Patricia M. Trainor, J.D., SPHR, BLR’s Senior Managing […]