Archives

Are You Mismanaging Your Job Descriptions?

Job descriptions have traditionally suffered a poor reputation among managers and human resources professionals. In fact, job descriptions often end up being ignored – left at the bottom drawer of a file cabinet, neglected and rapidly becoming obsolete.

EEOC Issues Best Practices for Workers With Caregiving Responsibilities

This content was originally published in July 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has created a list of best practices to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities. The document, Employer Best Practices for Workers […]

DOL Issues First Opinion Letter On New FMLA Rules

This content was originally published in July 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. As employers begin to apply the new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, a few questions have come up. In response to one of these questions regarding employee […]

Wild Thing, I Think I Loathe You

Dan read the following timely column by California Employment Law Letter editor Mark Schickman and thought Oswald Letter readers would enjoy it. Dan will be taking off next week but will return to his weekly column the following week. by Mark Schickman You’ve got an employee, Charlie, who has always been a wild thing. Too […]

Saying Goodbye

It’s “déjà vu all over again” for this blogger, who already saw and wrote about tonight’s episode of The Office — both when it was being filmed and as it later aired. What then to post? Well, for good or ill, recent events in the broadcasting world have shed light on an important and recurring […]

DOL Provides Crucial New Information on Lawyer Referral Program

by Leslie Stout-Tabackman and David Fortney, Fortney & Scott, LLC This article arises from comments on the “Bridge to Justice” program by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Solicitor Patricia Smith during the panel discussion “The Obama Administration’s Enforcement of the Wage and Hour Laws” at the Practicing Law Institute’s (PLI) “Managing Wage & Hour Risks […]

Walk a Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes

By Dan Oswald President, M. Lee Smith Publishers Just My E-pinion We’ve all heard the old saying “Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” It’s pretty straightforward. The Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings describes it this way: “Don’t criticize another person’s work until you’ve tried to […]

ESA to Be Abolished in November 2009

This content was originally published in October 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. Effective November 8, 2009, the Employment Standards Administration (ESA), the umbrella agency that administers the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the Office […]

Increased Social Media Usage = More Risks for Employers

Graduating college students are often warned that the content in their online profiles can hurt their chances of gaining employment. But as social media usage increases, so do the risks to employers, who are now seeing a rise in social media lawsuits. Next week the National Labor Relations Board will hear the case of a […]