Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In a flurry of employment-related activity, the high court ruled that state employees can’t sue for age discrimination under federal law, although they can still file suit under state law. Plus, the court upheld the following important decisions: the landmark Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruling that said Microsoft improperly treated temporary employees as independent […]
The Industrial Welfare Commission has clarified how to report alternative workweek election results under California’s new overtime law. Within 30 days of the election, you should send in your company name, the date of the election, the final election counts, the alternative workweek schedule adopted or repealed, and a statement of compliance. This statement can […]
U.S. Bank has agreed to pay $3.8 million to “personalbankers” in several states, including California, who were improperly classified asexempt from the overtime laws. The personal bankers’ job duties included creating newbanking relationships, opening accounts and selling banking services. U.S. Bank contendedthat the workers qualified for the administrative exemption to the overtime laws becausethey were […]
The Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services have issued guidelines explaining how to comply with the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act’s annual notice requirement. The notice explains that mastectomy-related services must be covered under health plans. It can be sent alone or with the summary plan description, a newsletter, […]
Meeting COBRA election notice requirements can be tricky – and even a minor oversight can potentially be expensive. A recent opinion letter from the Department of Labor clarifies the process for providing COBRA election notices to households with more than one qualified beneficiary. If several beneficiaries live at the same address, you can send their […]
Last March we reported on changes coming to the COBRA rules. Here is a quick rundown on the highlights of the updated regulations that take effect January 1.
In an important new ruling, the California Supreme Court has held that employees who are harassed by co-workers cannot seek damages from the employees who actually did the harassing. We’ll look at the new ruling and provide an overview of just who can be held liable in this rapidly changing area of the law.
The U.S. Supreme Court left intact a landmark federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruling that has forced many employers to reassess how they deal with temporary workers. The federal court had ruled that Microsoft improperly treated as many as 10,000 temporary employees as independent contractors and illegally denied them the option of participating […]
Bank of America recently announced that it had implemented a new Adopt-An-ATM program. Employees who volunteer for the program are asked to clean their adopted machines, remove trash and trim surrounding shrubs—all on their own time without pay. California Labor Commissioner Marcy Saunders responded to the bank’s announcement by demanding that the program be abolished […]
A federal court in Delaware has ruled that Hanover Foodsviolated federal law by refusing to offer COBRA benefits to a worker who was fired for leaving onion powder out of a batch of ravioli. The company claimed that Heather Lloynd tried to sabotage the ravioli because she was assigned to work with an employee she […]