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.

Supreme Court Defers Illegal Worker Racketeering Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has deferred ruling on a closely watched lawsuit that poses the question of whether an employer can be sued under the federal racketeering and organized crime law for recruiting illegal immigrants with the purpose of suppressing salaries for legal workers.

Harassment: California Supreme Court Says FEHA Amendment Retroactive

In 2003, the California Legislature amended the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to state that employers are potentially liable when third party nonemployees—such as customers or clients—sexually harass their employees. Prior to the amendment, the language of the FEHA seemed to impose liability on an employer only when the harassment was committed by the […]

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), "reasonable accommodation" depends on the job, not just the employee

Employment law attorneys note that ADA will not force you to make “reasonable accommodations” to the point that they hamper job performance When the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, some employers went into a tailspin. ADA mandated “reasonable accommodations” for the disabled. That invoked the specter of all manner of expensive […]

Immigration: H-1B Visa Cap Reached for Fiscal Year 2007

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that, as of the end of May 2006, it already received enough H-1B visa petitions to meet and exceed the H-1B visa cap of 64,300 for the 2007 fiscal year (which begins on October 1, 2006). The final date to submit a petition for consideration […]

Workers’ Compensation: Insurance Commissioner Recommends Further Rate Reductions

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi has announced he will recommend a 16.4 percent decrease in the workers’ compensation pure premium rate for policies starting on or after July 1, 2006. This recommendation is the latest in a string of recommended rate reductions since July 2003, when workers’ comp reforms went into effect. The cumulative recommended reductions […]

Retaliation: High Court Limits Whistleblower Protections for Public Employees

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that when public employees make statements as part of their official duties, those statements are not protected free speech. The case involved Richard Ceballos, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County who claimed his supervisors retaliated against him for sending a memo that said an affidavit […]

Tips for Avoiding Race and Color Discrimination

The EEOC provides the following tips to help employers avoid race and color discrimination: Job advertisements. Employers should not express a racial preference in job advertisements. Employers should indicate that they are “equal opportunity employers.” Employment agencies. Employment agencies may not honor employer requests to avoid referring applicants of a particular race. If they do […]