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.
Recordkeeping: Can We Destroy Paper Originals if We Keep Scanned Electronic Copies on File?
We have many employment documents that bear a seal or have a signature or a notary’s stamp. If we scan the documents and store them electronically, can we keep (and properly index) only the original pages that have the seal, signature, etc., and destroy the rest of the pages? Or, even better, can we scan […]
Cheesecake Factory’s Not-So-Sweet Harassment Suit
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has slapped restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory, Inc., headquartered in Calabasas, with a class-action lawsuit alleging male-on-male sexual harassment at a restaurant in Arizona.
Benefits Denials Scrutinized When Plan Administrator Plays Dual Role
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the level of scrutiny courts must apply when an employee challenges a denial of benefits and the plan administrator, whether the employer or an insurance company, played the dual role of determining whether the employee was eligible for benefits and paying benefits out of its own pocket.1 The […]
Is Work/life Balance the New Retention Solution?
Demographics and generational attitudes are coming together to make substantial flexibility demands on employers. That’s why work/life balance, once a nice-to-talk-about concept, has moved to the front burner in many organizations. Boomers have the skills you want to retain, but these days they want more time off. Gen X and Gen Y workers, similarly skillful, […]
Short Takes: FEHA Exemption
I work at a church and have been told that we’re exempt from the California Fair Employment and Housing Act’s (FEHA) requirements. Is this true?
Short Takes: Cell Phones
We have a lot of teenagers working here this summer. Does California’s new cell phone law have more stringent restrictions for them than for adults?
Hiring: Can I Fire a New Employee Whose Background Check Reveals Pending Criminal Charges?
I ran a background check on an employee I just hired and discovered that she faces serious criminal charges pending a hearing but has not been convicted. Some of the charges (to name a few) are assault in the first and second degree and theft over $500. Technically she didn’t lie on the application because […]
Hot List: New York Times Bestselling Hardcover Business Books
The following is a list of the bestselling hardcover business books as ranked by the New York Times on August 4. 1. When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change by Mohamed El-Erian. Investing advice for a time of global economic change. 2. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and […]
Is Bizarre Behavior ‘Notice’ for FMLA Purposes?
If an employee openly asks for Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) time off, that’s an easy call to make. But how about bizarre behavior? Does that constitute “notice” of the need for leave? And if so, wouldn’t any misbehavior be notice? Our expert sorts it out. Roy A. Ginsburg, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney […]