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Top Employment Issues for States in 2009: Part 1 – WARN Acts, Immigration, ADA, and Unemployment Insurance

The nation’s economy and its impact on state budgets will be the overriding factor state legislatures address in 2009. Many states have already attacked their budget shortfalls by delaying projects, implementing hiring freezes, eliminating positions, and cutting programs. With predictions of continued shortfalls in 2009, state budgets will be first on the agenda for lawmakers. […]

SHRM 2011: Use Surveillance Only as a Last Resort When You Suspect Fraud

Some requests for Family and Medical Leave Act leave just sound suspicious. For example, consider the case of an employee who requested leave during the exact same time of year he had taken off four years earlier. His supervisor ordered surveillance, and terminated him when it turned up what appeared to be evidence of fraud. The employee in […]

Cheerio, David Brent!

Although we know that Robert California (played by James Spader) will be coming on board next season, we at F&H are still sifting through the other candidates. Who knows? Maybe the selection committee will be able to find a role for them, too. Today I’d like to talk about my favorite candidate from across the […]

Employee Benefits: Public Employers May Have to Provide Long-Term Temps with Full CalPERS Retirement Benefits; A Reminder to Review Your Employee Classifications

In a decision that could be enormously costly for some California public employers, the state’s high court has ruled that long-term temps hired by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) through private temporary agencies may be eligible for full CalPERS retirement benefits. This opinion highlights the need for employers to be on high […]

DOL Reminds Employers Seasonal Jobs Still Subject to FLSA

Just because it’s the holiday season does not mean employers can relax their vigilance on wage and hour issues. The U.S. Department of Labor has its own list of who’s been naughty or nice (by its standards), and employers that run afoul of the agency could find a lump of coal in their stocking. Yesterday, […]

More Steps Toward Making Training Count

By Brian Winterstein In yesterday’s Advisor, Brian Winterstein, vice president of human resources for Liberty Tax Service, provided insight into how companies can make training count in an intergenerational workplace. Today Winterstein provides more steps that employers can take toward this goal.

Wage and Hour: Paycheck Deductions to Compensate for Cash Shortage Found Illegal; When You Can and Can’t Dock Wages

At Earl Scheib Inc. of California, an automotive paint shop chain, most sales transactions are in cash, and only shop managers are authorized to handle cash. If there’s an unresolved discrepancy between the shop’s bank deposit records and cash transactions, the manager is asked to sign an “acknowledgment of reimbursement” agreeing to reimburse the company […]

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Would More Favorable Parental Leave Laws Help Boost Workforce Participation?

We hear a lot in the news these days about the historically low unemployment rate, but one figure we don’t hear about nearly as much is the labor force participation rate—the ratio between the size of the labor force and the size of the overall population for that age group, often grouped by cohort (i.e., […]