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E-mail: What to Keep, What to Toss

by Michael E. Barnsback Local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations impose record-retention obligations on all employers. In the employment context, you have to retain employee hiring and termination records, payroll and benefits records, wage and hour records, immigration records (Form I-9), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) records, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability […]

Apprenticeship getting more attention as way to bridge the skills gap

It’s a familiar lament coming from employers: They struggle to hire people with the skills they need even when jobseekers line up at their doors. The skills gap has been a worry for years, and employers, educators, workers, and government officials have long touted apprenticeship as at least part of the solution. But the concept […]

Lessons learned from NHL lockout

By Brian P. Smeenk Canadians love hockey like Americans love football or baseball. Maybe more. So the lockout of the players by the league’s owners has left a lot of Canadian hockey fans in withdrawal. It’s also led to much more reporting about labor negotiations than we would normally see in the media.

Did the Recession Make Your Job Descriptions “Lawyer Bait”?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady During the recent recession, many employees saw their jobs change and grow. There may be fewer bodies, but the work still has to get done. In a lot of cases this, means that job descriptions are out of date and inaccurate. They may be fodder for significant lawsuits […]

Food Distributor To Pay $1.5 Million In Back FLSA Overtime

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a settlement with McLane Co., Inc., under which the Texas-based food and grocery distributor will pay $1,559,316 in back wages to 570 employees. A DOL investigation found that the company misclassified employees as exempt and thus didn’t pay overtime wages. McLane erroneously regarded retail merchandising specialists as […]

Deen’s downfall doesn’t atone for injustices of the past

by John Phillips In the movie 42 when the Dodgers played the Redlegs in Cincinnati for the first time after Jackie Robinson had become a Dodger, the Reds’ fans greeted the Dodgers with considerable vitriol—like they were greeted at every ballpark where they played during Robinson’s rookie year. The Dodgers took the field, and the […]

Questions To Ask in an Interview

Do your supervisors know what kinds of questions to ask in an interview? Do they know the proper techniques for asking those questions to solicit meaningful responses? Below are some important points to convey to your supervisors.

Mediation: Shorter, Faster, Less Expensive: What’s Not to Like?

Mediation is getting a second look from companies concerned about hair-raising judgments and settlements from traditional court disputes. Should your organization be looking, too? Mediation is a simple concept, says The Justice Center of Atlanta: “Bring both sides of a dispute together. With the assistance of a neutral mediator, enable them to speak their mind […]

Andrews and Hogan verdicts demonstrate disgust against invasion of privacy

Just this month, two large jury awards were given to celebrities in their respective civil suits alleging amongst other things, invasion of privacy: First, FOX sportscaster Erin Andrews was awarded $55 million in her lawsuit against a Nashville hotel and stalker after she was secretly videotaped in her hotel room in 2008. The jury found […]