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Several years ago, the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board ruled that it’s illegal to terminate an injured worker’s health benefits unless you can show a legitimate business reason for doing so. But now the board has ruled that you can cut off health benefits for an employee out on workers’ comp leave so long as […]
Although it may seem obvious that you have to pay employees for all the hours they spend on their job duties, employers commonly violate this rule. In recent years, a string of employers—including Nordstrom, Taco Bell and meat processor Monfort Inc.—have been hit with lawsuits for not paying workers for “off-the-clock” time. And now a […]
Lunchroom gossip is common in most workplaces, and when it’s malicious, it can damage relationships and affect morale. But can it also create work-related injuries that employers are on the hook for? We’ll tell you why a California appeals court has ruled that one workplace gossip victim was not entitled to workers’ comp benefits—but why […]
Although you’re required to determine the legal status of all workers you hire, you can get hit with discrimination complaints and fines if you ask for excessive documentation or single out particular groups, such as immigrants. And a spate of employer prosecutions by the federal Department of Justice for violation of a little-known rule involving […]
Sacramento lawmakers are debating a host of proposals that would impact employers. We’ll look at some of the key legislation that’s on the table.
A federal court in San Francisco has ruled that a group of Chevron employees who retired just before the company announced a lucrative early retirement buyout package are entitled to recover the additional money they would have received had they delayed retirement until after the new incentives were unveiled. The court found that Chevron actively […]
If your website doesn’t include reader friendly alternatives for people with disabilities, such as sight impairments, you might be violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Center for Applied Special Technology offers a free tool at that employers can use to test whether their web pages are accessible to disabled individuals. Also, the federal Department of Labor […]
Responding to a surge of discrimination complaints from employees of Middle-Eastern descent following the events of Sept. 11, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released two new fact sheets to answer questions about the employment of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and Sikhs. One fact sheet is geared toward employers, the other for employees. The […]
The federal Department of Labor has proposed extensive changes to the process for filing a Labor Condition Application (LCA) to employ a foreign worker. The agency says that the new rules would speed up application processing, but HR professionals and immigration attorneys are less optimistic, predicting that the proposal could radically limit the situations in […]
The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad Company will pay $2.2 million to settle a genetic testing lawsuit filed by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC charged that Burlington Northern conducted genetic testing as part of a medical exam required of employees who had filed work-related carpal tunnel syndrome claims. Burlington Northern agreed […]