Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Maria D. (as she was referred to in court documents) claimed that late one night as she drove along the Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California, she was pulled over by an on-duty Westec Residential Security guard wearing a uniform and gun. The guard allegedly pointed a spotlight in her face, asked for her license, […]
Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been handling payroll for years, Joe Sharpe urges you to heed this warning: Be careful. It isn’t that Sharpe, who prefers the title “Payroll Czar” at his firm Sharp Payroll, Inc., doesn’t trust your abilities, your education, or your dedication to the job. Rather, it’s just that people […]
Having problems with employee attendance? Here is a quick list of solutions—both proactive and reactive—that can help minimize employee absences from work.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allows employers on or near an Indian reservation to give preferential treatment to Indians living in the vicinity. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) takes the position that this provision doesn’t permit preference for members of a particular tribe. In the continuing saga of a […]
A set of safe harbors related to the enforcement of summaries of benefits and coverage (SBCs), which insurers and plan sponsors must distribute as part of health care reform, was issued May 11 by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Employee Benefits Security Administration. The DOL/EBSA guidance creates regulatory exceptions for situations where insurers […]
By Michele L. Brott, JD, Davis Brown Law Firm In December 2015, the Iowa Supreme Court decided the parameters of pregnancy discrimination under Iowa law, stating that when it comes to light-duty requests, pregnant workers are on “equal footing” with employees who are injured at work.
OSHA is making aggressive use of “egregious violations” to levy large fines and make an example of employers where it considers hazards to have been very serious, including a $16.6 million fine in Connecticut last week and another case in Wisconsin. But the question is whether the violations will hold up in the face of […]
By Jane Meacham The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on July 11 issued a notice of proposed revisions and other guidance outlining several changes to Form 5500 aimed at keeping annual reporting by employee benefit plans in line with technical, legal, and regulatory changes.
Over the last several years, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a string of decisions limiting the rights of state employees to sue their state employers for violating federal employment laws. Now a new high court decision continues the trend, ruling that state employees can’t recover damages for disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Harvard says we need happiness at work. But BLR’s founder says something else is even more important. Once again Harvard University scholars have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to “discover” the obvious. After considerable research, the Harvardians concluded that workplaces are more productive when people are positive, […]