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New legislation, SB 1841, has been introduced in Sacramento to require employers to notify employees in writing or electronically before monitoring the workplace electronically—by such means as computer, phone, wire, radio, or camera. The detailed notice would have to be issued when electronic monitoring is implemented and annually thereafter. Violations would carry a steep penalty […]
If you’re like many employers, you continually make changes in the workplace to boost employee health and safety. But it can be difficult to measure whether the changes are effective or whether other fixes are needed. Now, the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has made a new manual and a companion webpage […]
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), truck drivers and nursing aides were the two occupations in private industry with the highest rate of injuries and illnesses requiring at least one day away from work in 2002. The BLS reports that there were 1.4 million total workplace injuries entailing at […]
With Gov. Schwarzenegger poised to deliver enough voter signatures to place workers’ compensation reform on the November ballot, the Legislature reached a compromise with the governor and passed its own workers’ comp reform legislation—which the governor has now signed into law. The measure (SB 899) is expected to save employers several billion dollars a year […]
On April 20, the U.S. Department of Labor released the final and long-awaited changes to the white-collar overtime exemption rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The final version, which takes effect in late July 2004, contains some big changes from the earlier proposed version, including expanding the pool of employees eligible to receive […]
Earlier we reported on a California appeal court ruling challenging Ralph’s Grocery Co.’s practice of subtracting certain expenses—including the store’s workers’ compensation costs and cash and merchandise shortages—when calculating employee profit-based bonuses. Now the California Supreme Court has declined to review the appeal court ruling holding that the grocer’s practice violated various Labor Code and […]
A California appeal court has ruled that a new law (AB 76) holding employers liable for harassment by nonemployees, including clients, customers, and vendors, is retroactive to lawsuits that were already pending when the measure was signed into law last year by former Gov. Davis.
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether age-neutral policies violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) if they adversely impact older workers. The federal appeal courts are split as to whether “disparate impact” claims—which allege that a neutral policy or practice had an adverse, although unintentional, impact on a protected group—are permitted under the […]
The Treasury Department and the IRS have issued additional guidance on Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs, the recently authorized tax-exempt savings accounts employees can set up to pay medical expenses. For more information, go to the Treasury Department website.
The new law provides a short-term replacement for the current 30-year Treasury bond rate, which is currently used as the benchmark rate for pension funding liabilities. Some employers, unions, and workers expressed concerns about using the Treasury bond rate because it artificially inflates a plan’s funding liabilities. Congress enacted a temporary fix in March 2002 […]