Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Employers are required by the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to employees to care for a newly born or adopted child. Once the employee has returned to work, however, no federal or state laws obligate employers to give child care assistance. However, national studies show that […]
Provisions in an employment contract between Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. and its sales agents stated that agents had only six months from the date of discharge to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination, even though California law may provide up to four years to sue for breach of contract. The employment agreement also […]
We earlier reported on a ruling by a California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles that a new law broadening California’s disability bias statutes, effective Jan. 1, 2001, was a major change that could not be applied retroactively. Now a different appeals court in Los Angeles has come to the opposite conclusion, holding that the […]
A long-standing ruling by the National Labor Relations Board permitted unions to charge workers who were not union members fees that were used in organizing efforts in other workplaces. The rationale behind the rule was that nonunion workers derived a benefit from organizing efforts elsewhere because nonunion employers in the area would be forced to […]
Data just released by the U.S. Labor Department show that in 2000 the annual fatality rate for U.S. workplaces dropped 2% to 5,195, an all-time low since the agency began keeping fatality statistics nearly a decade ago. However, while workplace deaths for white and black workers declined, fatality rates increased sharply for Hispanic workers, with […]
The debate has heated up over the safety of using cell phones while driving. Some argue that the risk of accidents while on the phone is on a par with routine distractions such as adjusting the radio or climate controls in the vehicle. Others contend that the danger greatly escalates when a driver is talking […]
If an employee of a contractor you’ve hired gets injured on the job, the person can seek workers’ comp benefits from the contractor. But can the worker also come after you with a lawsuit for damages—arguing that you put them at risk by not ensuring that the contractor was competent to perform the work? The […]
Nina Hagan was hired under a one-year teaching contract at St. Martin of Tours, a Catholic elementary school in Los Angeles. She received a glowing performance evaluation her first semester. But, she claimed, after the principal discovered she was pregnant, her work situation deteriorated and she wasn’t rehired for the next school year. Now a […]
Frank Lemon, the service manager for Fresno-based heavy equipment distributor J.M. Equipment Co., was fired without warning for making a sexually explicit remark to a female employee. Lemon sued, arguing that the company had until then tolerated a pervasive atmosphere of vulgar language and sexually charged conduct and that he was really terminated because J.M. […]
It’s important to instruct employees who make work-related phone calls from their automobiles how to use the phones safely to avoid causing potentially tragic accidents. Here are some safety guidelines recommended by the American Automobile Association and the California Highway Patrol: