Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Suppose an accommodation you’ve provided for a disabled employee isn’t working out. How far must you go to find a new accommodation? And do you have to consider telecommuting as an alternative? A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision zeroes in on these questions. And we’ll suggest ways to manage the accommodation process to […]
If an employee reports being sexually harassed by a co-worker, you could be on the hook for steep damages if you don’t effectively investigate and remedy the problem. You may be tempted to take drastic disciplinary measures against the harasser to ensure that you’ve met your legal obligations. But according to a new Ninth Circuit […]
A recent case provides a dramatic example of how great the financial incentive can be for employees to blow the whistle on their employer. Donald McLendon, a former health care executive, will receive over $34 million for giving the government information about unlawful billing and fraud by his former employer Olsten Corp. and hospital giant […]
With the economic slowdown, if you’re tempted to ask employees to take time off to cut costs and avoid layoffs, you probably won’t have legal problems with nonexempt, nonunion employees, but use caution when it comes to exempt workers. Under the wage and hour laws, you can’t dock the pay of exempt employees, because they […]
Several large employers have recently run into expensive problems over the practice of handing out assistant manager titles, allegedly to avoid paying overtime to employees who perform largely the same work as nonexempt personnel. Workers are calling such tactics unfair labor practices and are suing for back overtime pay and damages. Two such cases are […]
In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has given six former PacBell employees the green light to sue on charges that the company induced them to accept an early retirement package by not disclosing that it was considering offering a better severance program. The court rejected PacBell’s claim that it had no […]
A recent survey by the American Management Association shows that employers are stepping up their monitoring of employees’ Internet use, with 61% of employers reporting that they monitor Web surfing and 46% stating they keep tabs on e-mail. And some employers are going even further when it comes to trying to track down the identity […]
Current and former employees are increasingly bad-mouthing their companies by posting negative and possibly defamatory comments about their employers on the Internet. And some employers have gone to great lengths to find out who is responsible. With layoffs on the upswing, employer-bashing is likely to grow as the number of disgruntled workers increases. Now a […]
As rolling blackouts threaten to become more common, many California employers face the thorny issue of how to handle employee pay when the heat or lights go out. Here’s an overview of what you can and can’t do:
Agreements that prohibit an employee from competing with you after leaving your employment are usually illegal. That’s because contracts that prevent someone from engaging in a lawful occupation are against public policy and are void in California. Now a California Court of Appeal has ruled that you can be sued for making it a condition […]