Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
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.
In what is being hailed as one of the largest public entity individual employment settlements ever in California, the City of Emeryville (near Oakland) has agreed to pay $2.3 million, plus $1.3 million in attorney’s fees, to a city employee who claimed racial discrimination and retaliation.
On March 15, U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would guarantee seven paid sick days per year to employees working at least 30 hours a week at companies with 15 or more workers. Under the bill, the sick days could be used for the […]
How do you train reluctant line managers in HR without their bolting from the room? Keep it short and need-to-know, using a training program built that way. Yesterday’s Daily Advisor went on at length on what your managers need to know to discipline problem employees in ways that keep your company out of legal trouble. […]
You might think the law’s behind you when you discipline workers, but human factors can change the equation. Employment-at will is a bedrock concept of American business, allowing employers, with few exceptions, to fire anyone, at any time, for any legal reason. No documentation is legally required. But take that concept too literally and you […]
BLR CEO and Founder Bob Brady returns from a work-life conference with work/life balance flexibility as an antidote to stress, and a reminder to not forget the person who must make that flexibility work. Are things “about to snap” in the American workplace? Are we reaching a “tipping point” at which stress-related trauma is going […]
With budgets shrinking, many HR managers are being asked to also handle workplace safety. Here are some tips (and a BLR book + CD program) to help you do it easier and better. Yesterday’s Daily Advisor reported that some employers are allowing, or even encouraging, employees to use iPod-like devices at work. A little music, […]
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) is warning employers about recent incidents in which a man has allegedly impersonated a Cal/OSHA inspector and defrauded restaurant owners. The incidents have occurred in Southern California and in Roseville (near Sacramento).
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) allows employees, both union and non-union, to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid or protection.” This includes an employee’s right to have a union representative present at an investigatory meeting that the employee reasonably believes could result in discipline.
Last year, a federal jury in San Francisco awarded $2 million to former Oakland police officer Janeith Glenn-Davis, who claimed she was passed over for promotion because she was pregnant. The damages included $150,000 in lost earnings plus $1.85 million for emotional distress and other damages.
Companies are issuing iPods to workers to enhance training and communications. But along with the benefits have come serious policy questions. Once you mostly saw them dangling from the ears of teenagers hanging out near the local high school. Now you see them worn by the forklift driver in the warehouse, the receptionist on break, […]