Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
After Nancy Duitch left her position as president of One World Networks Integrated Technologies to work at Buckhead Marketing, she entered into arbitration with One World over a series of disputes involving wages owed to her, and unfair competition claims by One World. One World also sued Buckhead Marketing for unfair competition. Buckhead Marketing then […]
In the November 2002 article, we reported on a California appeals court ruling that veganism–which is the refusal to eat and use any animal products–doesn’t qualify as a religion under state workplace discrimination laws. Now the California Supreme Court has refused the vegan’s plea to review the appellate court’s decision. As a result of the […]
The federal Department of Labor has said in a recent opinion letter, which was issued in response to an insurance industry group’s inquiry, that adjusters qualify for the administrative exemption from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The opinion reaffirms the DOL’s position on this issue, and was based on the DOL’s review of […]
If an employer fails to pay wages as required by contract or law, the employee has the option of filing a wage claim with the state Labor Commissioner. And the commissioner’s decision can be appealed to a trial court. In the event of such an appeal, the law says that the party (either the employee […]
A newly signed piece of legislation that has drawn much attention—S.B. 1661—makes California the first state in the nation to have a paid family leave program. Fortunately, you’ll have time to get ready because employees can’t begin to collect the family leave pay benefits until July 1, 2004. To help you get started, we’ve laid […]
Gov. Davis has signed into law state layoff notice requirements similar to those in the federal WARN Act—but broader. We’ll explain what you need to know about the new state law, which we’ll call “Cal/WARN.” Federal WARN Coverage The existing federal WARN Act applies to employers with more than 100 workers. And notice under WARN […]
In a new case, an employer argued that even when there’s no evidence that a former employee misappropriated trade secrets, you should be able to block the person from working for a competitor merely by demonstrating that the employee’s new job duties would inevitably cause them to rely on your trade secrets. We’ll tell you […]
A law enacted several years ago permits employees to use up to one-half of their accrued sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner. Now new legislation, S.B. 1471, signed by Gov. Davis, makes it illegal for an absence control policy to count sick leave taken under […]
To save time and money administering employee benefits and payroll, a growing number of employers are turning to leasing—or outsourcing—employees rather than hiring them outright. In this special two-part series, we’ll look at whether employee leasing is right for you and explore some of its hidden pitfalls.
In response to the highly publicized corporate accounting scandals involving Enron, WorldCom and a host of other companies, President Bush recently signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, creating tougher new rules for auditing and financial disclosures at publicly traded companies and for protecting shareholders’ interests. The new law also has some serious implications—including both civil […]