Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Jim Brown Sedgwick LLP A new law expanding smoking restrictions in California workplaces is set to take effect on January 1. State law previously restricted smoking in places of employment based on “enclosed space” areas. In addition to requiring signage, California Labor Code Section 6404.5 provided a list of exceptions or exemptions from the […]
What questions are employers prohibited from asking a job candidate under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
Discipline. Aside from performance appraisals, it’s probably the most neglected, most-often-put-off job in management. Managers and supervisors hate to deliver discipline, but delay is disaster. “I’ll ignore it—Let’s see if Jack will improve on his own.” Jack is a longtime employee, a copywriter in Jill’s Marketing Department. During the past several months, he’s been coming […]
Employee engagement is a key statistic tracked by many organizations because it’s an extremely important factor for business success. Employee engagement has direct connections to employee morale, productivity, and turnover—not to mention employee-supported recruitment and marketing efforts. And, of course, engaged employees are also more likely to deliver a positive customer experience.
Is it now negligence if you don’t do background checks on MySpaceTM and Facebook? “We’re not there yet for every job,” says attorney Joseph Beachboard, “but it’s getting there for sensitive jobs like installers and home care providers.” Beachboard’s comments came at the recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Convention and Exposition in […]
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiscal year 2013 budget request continues many priorities emphasized in the previous year’s budget, such as the effort to combat worker misclassification, while ending or consolidating some programs aimed at helping women and veterans find jobs. The DOL’s 2013 budget request comes in at $12 billion. The 2012 request […]
Debunking the myth that entry-level jobs can’t be flexible or that only experienced professionals can attain work flexibility, FlexJobs has identified a sample of 10 remote entry-level jobs for new college graduates to consider. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) indicates a positive job market for the projected 1,870,000 new bachelor’s degree level […]
by Julia Kennedy A Canadian court recently upheld most of a more than $500,000 arbitration award involving a unionized employee of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA). But it ordered the arbitrator to reconsider the mental distress and punitive damages awards. In doing so, the court clarified the broad remedial authority of arbitrators to award […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents the ability to leverage technology in ways that allow that technology to learn and improve over time. Already, in markets like manufacturing, AI is being used to streamline processes and perform tasks that can free up employees to focus on higher-impact work. In HR, AI has been identified as a tool […]
by Susan M. Webman and Burton F. Fishman of Fortney & Scott, LLC The new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, while not a panacea for the long-standing problem of employees using FMLA rights as an excuse to take leave on an intermittent and, at times, seemingly irrational basis, do offer some help in […]