Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Recently, several big-name clothing retailers—including Polo Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Chicos—have been hit with charges that policies requiring employees to buy and wear the retailers’ own clothes violate California’s wage-and-hour rules stating that employers must pay for employee uniforms. Now Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle charges brought […]
by Tammy Binford Puerto Rico employers may soon be required to take steps to prevent workplace bullying. The territory’s legislature passed Senate Bill 501, an antibullying measure, on June 3. If the bill is signed by Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, Puerto Rico will become the first U.S. jurisdiction to pass a comprehensive law against workplace […]
by Jerome Rose The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been pursuing cases beyond its traditional reach to expand its enforcement authority toward a goal of developing and litigating systemic cases (i.e., cases in which a policy or practice discriminates on a broader basis, as opposed to a single decision affecting a single employee). As […]
By Beth Kahn and Timothy J. Toohey, Morris Polich & Purdy LLP A California employer fired a pregnant employee for violating its policy on reporting missing customer deposits. On appeal, the California Court of Appeal considered whether the employee had a claim for pregnancy discrimination and whether the employer had a legitimate reason for terminating […]
Employees with chemical sensitivity may be entitled to workplace accommodations, including permission to work from home, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled in Core v. Champaign County (July 30, 2012). Pamela Core, an employee at the Champaign County Department of Job and Family Services, had asthma and a severe chemical […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we took aim at breaking out of the management onboarding rut with a few proven methods of ensuring new-manager success. Today we tackle three more strategies from Michael Watkins, founder of the Newton, MA-based leadership strategy consultancy Genesis Advisers LLC.
by Jennifer Carson The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurers to offer plans with reduced deductibles, copayments, and other means of cost-sharing to certain people, depending on their income, who purchase plans through the ACA marketplaces. In turn, insurers receive federal payments arranged by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to cover the costs […]
by Judith E. Kramer On January 28, a federal court ruled in favor of Kaplan Higher Learning Education Corp. and Kaplan University in a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC had alleged that Kaplan’s use of credit history reports in making hiring decisions violated certain provisions of Title VII of […]
A dreaded accounting-of-disclosure rule for electronic protected health information (ePHI) will require action by many employers, in their roles of health plan sponsors. (Employers are not technically “covered entities” under HIPAA privacy but, in effect, must comply if they’re involved in plan administration.) The rule came out in proposed form on May 31. It would […]