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.

DOL Launches Web Filing for Military Vets’ Complaints

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that National Guard and reserve service members can now file military leave complaints–under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)–using a new electronic filing service. This new service is the latest in a series of compliance tools developed by the DOL to help educate employers and employees […]

Employment Law Tip: Protecting Workers from the Sun

We reported on the new Cal-OSHA initiative to educate employers and employees on how to prevent heat-related illness. Employers and employees should also take the time to understand how to prevent another sun hazard that’s a problem year-round: too much exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays.

Work Criticisms Don’t Equal Adverse Action

When Specialty Restaurants Corp. (SRC) hired Alberto Pinero as general manager of Luminarias in Monterey Park, Pinero had an age bias lawsuit pending against his former employer that he didn’t tell SRC about. When SRC’s chief executive learned about the suit, he tried to persuade Pinero to drop it on the grounds that it was […]

Exempt Employees: Labor Commissioner Changes Guidance on Vacation and Paid Time Off

The California labor commissioner has withdrawn an existing opinion letter regarding employer-mandated use of vacation and other paid time off (PTO) for exempt employees, as well as the use of vacation or PTO for partial-day absences. We’ll explain what the commissioner’s action means and how it will affect your workplace. 

Employing Minors: DOL Releases Final Rules on Restrictions for Teen Workers

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published final regulations that implement changes to some teen worker employment rules. Effective Feb. 15, the rules expand protections for minors working in certain industries and performing certain tasks. Note that California’s child labor rules generally incorporate the federal regulations.

Workplace Bias: Court Strips Employee of $1 Million Award; No Evidence Reorganization Was Biased Against Older Workers and Women

In the most familiar type of workplace bias lawsuit, the employee charges that the employer had a discriminatory motive. Butin disparate impact cases, the employee claims that an apparently neutral policy or practice of the employer disproportionately hurt employees in a protected class, even though there was no intent to discriminate. A new California appeal […]