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In a 220-215 vote, House Democrats passed a controversial health care reform bill with only one Republican voting for the legislation. The Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) is a combination of three different health care reform bills approved by House committees this summer and is 1,990 pages with a 42-page manager’s amendment. […]
HR managers can often save their companies thousands of dollars in litigation fees by spending just 5 minutes consulting with their attorneys, say Tracy L. Cahill and Veronica T. von Grabow. Sounds like a bargain. Cahill and von Grabow are attorneys in the Los Angeles offices of the law firm Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP. […]
While the ADA Amendments Act made it easier for employees to show that they have a disability, it did not eliminate the requirement, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Neely v. PSEG Texas, No. 12-51074 (5th Cir. Nov. 6, 2013). Facts of the Case Jeffrey Neely worked as a control-room operator […]
By Susan Schoenfeld, JD You have given an employee awaiting the birth of a baby the FMLA forms twice, and she has not returned them to you. Can you send her a letter giving her a deadline to get the forms to HR; otherwise her FMLA may be in jeopardy. Do you have the right […]
By BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady (Readers: A funny thing happened on the way to my writing today’s column. Another 800 email requests for my “perfect performance appraisal” engulfed us after last Friday’s column on the subject… that’s more than 1300 so far! So facing the possibility of an exploding in-box, we decided to […]
I learned something last week. If you read a youngster’s text messages, you’ll notice a complicated system of abbreviations, symbols, and symaphores that, when translated with your 7-year-old’s assistance, become more-or-less coherent English sentences. Anyway, I learned “SMH” means “shaking my head,” which is exactly what I do these days when I hear the words […]
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued Administrator’s Interpretation (AI) No. 2013-1, which can be found at www.dol.gov/whd/opinion/adminintrprtn/fmla/2013/fmlaai2013_1.htm. The AI clarifies that the age of onset of a disability is irrelevant when determining whether an employee is entitled to take leave to care for an adult son […]
Litigation Value: Not much on the employment law front. But, for many of our readers in Central Daylight Time (you know who you are), the goings-on during — and especially after — the most recent airing of The Office might have given rise to at least the kernel of an emotional distress claim. Allow this week’s […]
Yesterday, we talked about how comments like “You don’t look gay” or “You don’t sound black” may not technically be illegal, but are nonetheless inappropriate at work.
The holidays are a prime travel time for many American workers—our romantic notions of “home for the holidays” and “I’ll be home for Christmas” are founded in a national holiday habit. But after the holidays, you’ll want your employees back on the job in solid physical shape. Give them these air travel tips to […]