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Preventing Violence In The Workplace: Employee Punched By Co-Worker Wins $2.5 Million Verdict; Take Action Now

If two employees get into a scuffle at work and one is hurt, you might assume that the injured employee’s only recourse against you is to file a workers’ compensation claim. But a San Diego jury’s staggering verdict demonstrates that if you don’t respond appropriately to an altercation, you could find yourself on the losing […]

Will the Brinker Meal and Rest Breaks Decision Stand?

Most California employers know by now that a California appeals court recently issued an important decision in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court, interpreting the state’s meal and rest period requirements and giving employers and employees welcome flexibility in scheduling breaks. (See our complete coverage here.)

Hot List: BusinessWeek’s Bestselling Business Books

BusinessWeek magazine ranks the 15 best selling hardcover and paperback business books in January 2009 and gives a short summary. 1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. As you’d expect with Gladwell, there are lots of surprises in his explanation of why some people succeed fantastically. Pluck and smarts get less play here […]

Save the white males!

For decades the most heated gender-related dispute in the world of Archie Comics was whether Archie was more into Betty or Veronica. But a recent lawsuit by five white male executives of Archie Comics against the company’s female co-CEO is enough to whiten Reggie Mantle’s hair. The five men (and one woman) allege that Nancy […]

It’s Called Managing, Not Mangling

In yesterday’s Advisor the “boss whisperer” helped managers get information from subordinates. Today, her tips on how to approach the abrasive manager. The boss whisperer is executive coach Dr. Laura Crawshaw. These tips are from her book, Taming the Abrasive Manager: How to End Unnecessary Roughness in the Workplace. When you present the facts, the […]

Unwanted Scrutiny: Feds Investigate Self-funded Health Plans and Stop-loss

The federal government seems to be fishing around for evidence showing that self-insured health health plans will siphon off healthy lives from state-run insurance exchanges (a cornerstone of reform). On April 26, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS) and IRS/Treasury issued a set of questions about the use of stop-loss […]

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Test for Classifying Workers is Shifting Away From ‘Economic Reality’

In May 2025, the Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published guidance saying that it would stop enforcing a Biden-era rule—one that had rescinded a rule created during the first Trump administration—on the factors distinguishing independent contractors from employees. Although the Biden-era rule remains “on the books” for now while the DOL considers replacing […]

OSHA seeks more comments on injury and illness tracking

by Judith E. Kramer The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has extended the comment period for the proposed rule to improve tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses. Comments will be accepted through October 14. The proposal, published on November 8, 2013, would amend the agency’s record-keeping regulation to add requirements for the electronic […]