Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Do you employ teenage workers? If so, it’s important to take a look at what you can do to ensure young people are safe from workplace harassment and know how to report problems that do occur. Here are some tips from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on preventing harassment and discrimination involving young workers:
Sometimes it’s necessary to strip away all the preconceived notions about how to succeed in an industry, reshuffle roles, and take an untraditional approach to change things for the better. That’s even true—maybe especially true—in industries as steeped in tradition as winemaking. Typically, there are three groups involved in winemaking: The winemakers, The distributors, and […]
Here are the Amazon’s “Editors’ Picks” of the best business and investing books of 2009. 1. The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street by Justin Fox. Time magazine’s editor-at-large leads readers on a chronological journey of modern economic theory, featuring the cast of scholars who constructed […]
By Mark I. Schickman We have eliminated many forms of workplace discrimination and made great strides toward erasing others. Nonetheless, one form of discrimination ― “Beauty Bias,” as coined by Stanford Law Professor Deborah Rhode ― remains alive, well, and possibly inherent in the human condition. When babies are shown pictures of adults, they usually […]
by Kara E. Shea I’ve been working with several clients lately on Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) compliance issues — specifically, on exemption classification audits. During an audit, I review all the jobs an employer has deemed exempt from overtime under the FLSA and try to decide whether the positions have been correctly classified. It’s […]
Absences to care for a family member with a serious health condition do not need to be connected to medical treatment — nor do they depend on a particular location — to qualify as leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in Ballard v. Chicago Park […]
By Maggie LeBato, JD A recent case decided by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans (which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) serves as good guidance for hospitality and restaurant industry employers with tipped employees.
As the federal minimum wage debate heats up, the real challenge for employers could be at the state level, if a dozen pending measures to increase state minimum wages gain traction. The proposals share DNA with federal measures being pushed by President Obama and congressional Democrats — to raise the minimum wages and in many […]
California noncompete agreements are basically void. California’s legislature routinely passes its own version of federal laws, often with crucial differences that can trip up multistate employers. Noncompete agreements are one such topic. While most states do not give employees protection (or only do so by limiting the scope of these agreements), they’re generally not allowed […]
Doing business in Canada requires understanding how Canadian employment law differs from US. For example: Are hourly employees in Canada required to be paid overtime after 40 hours of work in a week, just like in the US? Is there paternity leave in Canada? What notice must an employer give an employee before terminating them? […]