Category: HR Management & Compliance

There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.

Wage and Hour: Important Meal Period Ruling from California Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court has handed down an important new decision, answering a wage and hour question that recently has plagued the state’s appeals courts: Is the required payment of “one additional hour of pay at the employee’s regular rate of compensation” for each day that an employer fails to provide mandatory meal or rest […]

‘Failing Forward’ Is the Best Option

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR’s CEO suggests that if you want to get ahead in HR, avoid gambles, but take risks! As the CEO and owner of a small business, I get to observe the willingness of people to take risks. Some are natural risk-takers. Some will bet only on a sure […]

Announcing a Special BLR Audio Conference: The Challenges of an Aging Workforce

Solving the worker shortage by retaining your older workers brings many benefits, but an aging workforce also raises several challenges. An April 25 audio conference will tell you what you need to know. To anyone charged with filling office seats and production workstations, the numbers are frightening. The Baby Boom generation, just starting to reach […]

Health Insurance: HIPAA Privacy Notice Reminder for Small Health Plans

Under the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), group health plans must remind participants every three years that a privacy rights notice is available on request. For small health plans (those with $5 million or less in annual receipts), the three-year anniversary date is April 14, 2007. The anniversary date […]

7 Leadership Lessons from World Series Baseball Champions

By HR Consultant and Sports Executive Skip Weisman As baseball season starts, our guest columnist explains how lessons learned by sports teams can help business organizations. He knows because he’s led both. With dreams of a World Series championship dancing in their heads, 30 major league teams have just begun the 2007 major league baseball […]

Computers: Ninth Circuit Reconsiders Computer Privacy Ruling; the Importance of Having a Monitoring Policy

Last year, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, ruled that employees cannot expect privacy when using workplace computers if their employer has an electronic monitoring policy in place. But now, the Ninth Circuit has revisited that ruling—this time finding that the employee indeed had an expectation of privacy for the computer […]

Employment Law Tip: Protecting Teens from Workplace Harassment

Do you employ teenage workers? If so, it’s important to take a look at what you can do to ensure young people are safe from workplace harassment and know how to report problems that do occur. Here are some tips from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on preventing harassment and discrimination involving young workers:

Sexual Harassment: McDonald’s Teen Employees Settle Lawsuit

GLC Restaurants, Inc., which operates McDonald’s restaurants in Arizona and California, has agreed to pay $550,000 to eight female teenage workers who were sexually harassed by a middle-aged male supervisor. The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the young workers, charged that the supervisor was a repeat offender who […]

Whistleblowers: Supreme Court Scales Back Whistleblower Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a new ruling that limits the right of whistleblowers to recover a slice of the damages paid by government contractors whose violations are exposed. Engineer James Stone filed a lawsuit under the Federal False Claims Act (FCA), charging Boeing Co. made false statements regarding safety and environmental issues at […]