Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Daniel Pugen McCarthy Tetrault Following its recent re-election in October, the Ontario provincial government led by Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty established a new public holiday called “Family Day.” The holiday falls on the third Monday in February each year. Ontario joins the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in creating a public holiday in February. […]
by Charles S. Plumb The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed a new rule that would create a database of commercial drivers’ drug test histories, making it easier for employers to find a job candidate’s past drug test results. The comment period is open until April 21. Under the current rules, employers that hire […]
By James M. Leva, JD, Day Pitney LLP A New Jersey federal court recently allowed an employee’s claim for unpaid wages to proceed despite the employer’s mandatory time-reporting policies because the employee alleged that her supervisor instructed her to underreport her hours.
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 […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, consultant Dayna offered business drivers favoring flex and telework options. Today, the three most common flavors of flex, plus an introduction to BLR’s popular checklist-based HR audit system. Fellows, founder and president of WorkLife Performance, Inc. says that there are three common “flavors” of flex/telework. She offered her tips at a recent […]
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 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.
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 […]