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by Calvin Keith, Perkins Coie For over 10 years, Oregon employers have been waiting for an answer to the question of whether they must accommodate a disabled worker’s use of medical marijuana. The Oregon Supreme Court’s April 14 decision in Emerald Steel Fabricators, Inc. v. Bureau of Labor and Industries answers that question with a […]
Attracting and keeping talented employees is incredibly important and often very difficult. In a post-industrial society, businesses run more and more on people and less and less on nonhuman capital like factories, vehicles, and machinery. At the same time, with historically low unemployment rates, employees have added flexibility to be picky when it comes to […]
The new decision focused on the union organizing practice known as “salting”—whereby unions send individuals to apply for jobs with the ultimate purpose of organizing the company from within. The NLRB said that although some union salts may genuinely desire to work for a nonunion employer and to proselytize co-workers on behalf of a union, […]
While some employees with chemical sensitivity may be entitled to work from home, that remedy is not always available, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has ruled in Core v. Champaign County, 2012 WL 4959444 (Oct. 17, 2012). The court had ruled on July 30 in Core v. Champaign County that […]
Special from SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Conference Washington, DC In yesterday’s Advisor, we highlighted attorney Jonathan Segal’s tips for communicating with the C-suite. Today, his take on lawsuit avoidance, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one website, HR.BLR.com. Segal, a partner with Duane Morris law firm in Philadelphia, shared his expertise at SHRM’s Employment Law […]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which risked losing a quorum just a few months ago, is losing one of its two Republican members. Terence Flynn, who joined the NLRB in January, submitted his resignation on May 26. The resignation is to be effective July 24, but Flynn already has recused himself from all agency […]
Job restoration for employees returning from family leave can be tricky. Today, we look at a couple of common scenarios. FMLA Restoration Example 1 John is a bank teller. He works at a bank branch 20 miles from his home. The branch is in a suburban neighborhood that allows John to do shopping or to […]
Credit reports can be a useful tool for screening job applicants, but using them recently became more complex. That’s because of several important changes to the federal Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act that are effective September 30, 1997. If you violate these provisions or a similar state law, you can be sued for steep penalties, […]
The share of employee compensation going to health benefits has risen substantially, while the share for wages has fallen, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a Menlo Park-headquartered nonprofit health policy organization. Kaiser’s Health Care Costs Snapshot report, “Wages and Benefits: A Long-Term View,” explains that health insurance premiums rose 78 percent between 2001 and […]
Training is often perceived as a soft science. But to train better and to get more funding for training, consider doing it “by the numbers.” These days, business is increasingly ruled by numbers. But there are some things that can’t be quantified, right? Like how the human mind can be affected by training. Not so, […]