Archives

Just Say No to Comp Time

by Kara Shea I hear it all the time: Our employees want comp time; our employees like comp time. Why can’t we give them comp time? And time and time again, I have to deliver the unpleasant news: In most cases, even if your employees love comp time like they love ice cream sundaes and […]

Workplace Lessons from Baseball’s Cal Ripkin Jr.

By BLR Editor, Elaine V. QuayleJust My E-pinion With the World Series starting next week, your workers will be watching baseball. But a BLR editor says they can also learn from baseball. As a human resources editor—and baseball fan—I wanted to write about the valuable lessons that HR professionals can glean from Cal Ripken Jr.’s […]

The Pension Protection Act (PPA): What HR Managers Must Know

When the CEO asks “How will the Pension Protection Act of 2006 affect us?”, you need to know the answer. A special November 1 BLR audio conference will help you answer. Yesterday’s Advisor laid out some of the positive benefits of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). We discussed how the law made provisions […]

The Pension Protection Act (PPA): New Opportunities for Employers

Massive revisions in the Pension Protection Act have opened the door to automatically enroll every employee or to pay retirement benefits even as senior members of your team keep working. Here’s what you need to know about these new PPA-driven opportunities. Employers are generally leery of anything coming out of Washington that affects them. But […]

Employment Law Tip: Direct Deposit—Don’t Force It

Direct payroll deposit can be a real timesaver for employers and employees alike. But did you know that California law prohibits employers from requiring employees to use direct deposit for their paychecks? Specifically, Labor Code Section 213 makes it clear that employers can use direct deposit, but only when the employee voluntarily authorizes it. Additional […]

Immigration: Judge Halts No-Match Rule

In the current issue of the California Employer Advisor, we report on a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulation mandating the steps an employer must take to verify an employee’s Social Security number (SSN) when the employer receives a “no-match” letter from the DHS or the Social Security Administration. Under the rule, employers would […]

Unions: NLRB Cuts Back on Salting

The new decision focused on the union organizing practice known as “salting”—whereby unions send individuals to apply for jobs with the ultimate purpose of organizing the company from within. The NLRB said that although some union salts may genuinely desire to work for a nonunion employer and to proselytize co-workers on behalf of a union, […]

Teambuilding: What Supervisors Need to Succeed

Teams can make work more productive, and enjoyable as well, but supervisors need to be trained to lead them. Here’s an affordable tool to do it. Recent surveys, including our own National Employee Attitude Survey, show that teamwork, though a lofty goal in theory and a fact at our overseas competitors, remains elusive in the […]

4 Things Others Do That HR Hates the Most

Don’t you hate when that happens? Or that? Or that? A new book lists things that rile you up the most … and what you do in return. Ever since the Japanese started eating the lunch of American business back in the 1970s, U.S. companies have focused on the team. After all, that was a […]

Taking a Chance

LITIGATION VALUE: $450,000 (could be more if several employees file claims) As Julie has been called upon to practice law this week, she asked me to blog in her place. I’m Troy Foster, a fellow labor and employment attorney with Ford & Harrison and also a big fan of the show. Thankfully this week’s episode […]