Author: Celeste Blackburn

Hot List: Bestselling Business Books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of bestselling business books hourly. Here is a snapshot of what books were hot this morning — Monday, September 15. 1. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman. The author of The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History […]

Tyson Foods: a lesson in religious tolerance, community relations

Tyson Foods is going a long way toward making employees of all religious persuasions happy. At least that’s the case at its plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee. About 700 of the 1,200 employees there came to the United States as political refugees from Somalia, and most of those 700 employees are Muslim. Recently, the Tyson plant’s […]

Are all religious holidays created equal?

One might think that the paid holidays an employer chooses to offer its employees is a matter for the employer and its employees. However, when Tyson Foods announced that Labor Day would be replaced with Eid al-Fitr as a paid holiday in its Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant, the response from the public was swift and harsh. […]

Companies lauded for diversity still have far to go

“Diversity Practices that Work: The American Worker Speaks,” a two-year national study of 5,500 workers, was conducted by Global Lead Management Consulting on behalf of the National Urban League to answer four questions: What do American workers think about diversity? How do the perceptions of employees in “effective diversity practices companies” compare with American workers […]

New EEOC guidance on religious discrimination in the workplace

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has issued a new section in its compliance manual on religious discrimination in the workplace. The agency concluded that the sharp rise in the number of religious discrimination charges, the growing religious diversity in the United States, and requests for guidance from stakeholders warranted the new compliance manual section. […]

Renhill settles with EEOC on age discrimination, race discrimination, and retaliation suit

Fort Wayne staffing company Renhill Services, Inc., has settled a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for retaliation and age and race discrimination. The company will pay $580,000 and up to $5,000 in settlement administrative expenses, according to the EEOC. The EEOC charged that Renhill violated federal law by failing to refer […]

Hispanic Heritage Month 2008

Hispanic Heritage month starts today and runs through October 15. In September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, which was observed during the week that included September 15 and 16. The observance was expanded in 1988 to a month-long celebration. Hispanic Heritage month celebrates the culture and traditions […]

Primer on Travel Time Pay for Workers

by Leslie Sammon When does an employee’s drive to work become paid time? The Fair Labor Standards Act provides the federal rules governing pay for travel time. Employees covered by the minimum wage and overtime requirements (non-exempt employees) under federal law must be paid for all hours worked. Some states also have laws addressing travel […]

Palin and the Commish

It’s hard to escape all of the political news right now. If you keep an eye out, you can take something away from all the talking heads that you can use at work. Take some of the stories about vice presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin. The one that grabbed headlines recently was the story that […]

Words That Might Sound Like Age Discrimination

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of age discrimination claims. In fact, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), age discrimination charges rose by approximately 15 percent in fiscal year 2007. Many observers attribute that trend to the fact that more employees are choosing to work longer and […]