Author: Jeffrey Lewis, Attorney, Buchalter, Patrick Allen, Attorney, Buchalter

Are California’s Workplace Marijuana Policies Going Up in Smoke?

Marijuana is becoming increasingly common in our society and in our workplace. Though medical marijuana has been legal since the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, the legalization of recreational marijuana has increased the number of times employers encounter situations with employees who are using or have used marijuana.

health

Benefit Expense Reduction: Reducing Healthcare Costs

Traditionally, employers reduced healthcare spending by passing along more of the premiums and other costs to employees. This, of course, is still an option, but it’s obviously one that employees don’t favor and will not go far in making the benefits package attractive. It also doesn’t address the root issue of cost reduction but rather […]

Q&A: Shifting from a Shareholder-Centric Approach to an Employee-Centric Approach

As an HR professional, you have likely run up against what is often called “shareholder democracy.” Need resources for that new engagement initiative? The answer might be “The board has not allocated funds for that effort during this fiscal year.” Want to implement that fancy new software? “Unfortunately, first-quarter results say we are going to […]

arbitration

Scalia Defends Private-Sector Record During Confirmation Hearing

President Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) faced senators in a September 19 confirmation hearing where he signaled his views on various issues the DOL is facing and said his work representing businesses as an attorney wouldn’t keep him from fulfilling the department’s mission.

California Governor Signs AB5: When in Doubt, Worker Is Employee

For most of a century, California law has favored the employment relationship and creates a likely presumption that a person whom you allow to perform work is an employee. The California Legislature just added one more brick to the employment wall, sending Assembly Bill (AB) 5 to Governor Gavin Newsom, who has signed it into […]

burnout

No Lack of Stress Among Millennials

Burnout, a syndrome stemming from workplace stress, has, at one time or another, affected virtually the entire U.S. workforce. Lhasa OMS recently did a study of 2,010 young Americans, with the goal of learning more about their stress levels at work. The findings showed that 4 out of 5 Millennials were stressed several times per […]

merger

Senior VP of HR at Smucker Discusses Cultural Considerations During Mergers and Acquisitions

When an organization is involved in a merger or an acquisition, the entire situation can be distressing for everyone. Suspicions run high in both organizations, and even the best-running company culture can run aground during those difficult times. I recently spoke with Jill Penrose, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at The J.M. Smucker Company, […]