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.

Lawyers See Easy Money in Wage-and-Hour Litigation

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Wage-and-hour rules have been around for nearly three-quarters of a century—ever since FDR’s New Deal— so it’s hard to picture them triggering the next wave of employment litigation, but California attorney Marc Jacuzzi thinks otherwise. Litigation Tsunami? “Plaintiffs’ lawyers are leaving the ugly world of discrimination and going […]

‘Knowing and Voluntary’—Tricky Requirements

A waiver in a severance agreement is only valid when an employee “knowingly and voluntarily” consents to the waiver, say attorneys Lloyd Aubry and Armilla Staley-Ngomo. Reaching that standard can be challenging. The rules for waivers under the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (ADEA) are defined by the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA). Rules […]

House Passes COBRA Subsidy Extension and Expansion

Update Dec. 21, 2009: President signs bill including COBRA subsidy extension By John Hickman and Ashley Gillihan The House voted 395-34 today to pass the COBRA subsidy extension and expansion as part of the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3326 — Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. The text can be found as Section […]

HRHero Compensation Survey 2010 Results

HRHero’s Compensation 2010 survey results shows that wage and benefit issues continue to be a pressing problem for many companies and new issues are arising as employers try to deal with doing business in a vastly changed economy from two years ago. Here are some of the results 35% of survey respondents say their organization […]

Workers over 40? Caution’s the Watchword for RIFs

“Companies have to be especially cautious when conducting workforce reductions involving employees older than 40,” says attorney Lloyd Aubry. Waivers can help, but they bring their own legal challenges. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recently issued a Technical Assistance Document covering waivers, say Aubry and Armilla Staley-Ngomo, both with the San Francisco office […]

U.S. Supreme Court to Address Privacy of Text Messages

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would hear arguments in a case involving sexually explicit text messages sent by employees using their employer-provided pagers. The issue for the court is whether the employer violated its employees’ privacy rights by reading the messages. The case involved several police officers with the Ontario, California, […]

Hot List: Bestselling “Business Life” books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, December 14, in the “Business Life” section of the “Business and Investing” category. 1. StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by […]

What Can a Maestro Teach You About Management?

In his “surprising story about leading by listening,” Maestro Roger Nierenberg shares penetrating insights about leadership as learned from observing an orchestra at work. In his recent book, Maestro (Portfolio, Oct. 2009), Nierenberg compiles leadership lessons that come from managers who have participated in his “Music Paradigm,” a management training activity he presents using a […]