Archives
‘Hi, I Need Copies of All Your Files’: Taming Discovery in the Age of the E-File
“Hi, I just need to see every electronic file and e-mail relating to Steve Smith and his employees, colleagues, bosses, and customers from the last year, please.” Arrrgh! Discovery should be easy in an age of electronic wizardry, but it’s a nightmare. If your company is sued over an employment (or any legal) matter, the […]
Health and Safety Legislative and Regulatory Responses
by Daniel Pugen McCarthy Tetrault Workplace violence has become a hot topic among labor, employment, and health and safety regulators in Canada. Of course, workplace violence is hardly a new phenomenon. Certain workers like police officers have an inherent risk of workplace violence. Also, put enough people in an enclosed area under stressful conditions (i.e., […]
Help, They Made Me a Supervisor—Part 2—What to Do
Help, no kidding. New supervisors are in for a great ride, but if you don’t train them well—and fast—they’re going to crash and burn. Here are tips and news about a new audio conference especially for new supervisors. Last issue we posed 9 problem areas for new supervisors and promised that today, we’d offer some […]
Hot List: The BusinessWeek Bestseller List
BusinessWeek ranks business books that are the most recent bestsellers and provides a short summary. 1. Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Are you unsure where your true talents lie? Do you feel that you are both a person who gets things done and someone who offers penetrating analysis? Well, you can discover whether you are […]
Short Takes: Workers’ Compensation
Do we have to be a part of the State Compensation Insurance Fund, or can we go on our own for workers’ comp insurance?
Short Takes: Labor Commissioner Visits
You’re the Expert: What Should We Do with Supervisors Who Are in Relationships with Subordinates?
We have two supervisors who appear to be in relationships with subordinates. How do we approach them, and what should we say?
Family and Medical Leave: What Do We Do with an Employee Who Doesn’t Have Enough Hours for FMLA Leave but Might by the Start of the Leave?
You’d think we’d have the FMLA figured out by now, but we have two issues that we don’t know how to address. One employee has requested leave, but she hasn’t yet worked 1,250 hours and hasn’t been employed by us for 12 months. However, by the time the requested leave would begin, she would have […]
Bulletin: U.S. Supreme Court rules on ERISA case
In a unanimous decision favorable to employees, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that individual 401(k) plan participants can sue plan administrators under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for breach of fiduciary duty. James LaRue had initiated the lawsuit after his employer failed to follow his investment instructions, which he said resulted […]