Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In today’s we-want-to-be-the-employer-of-choice world, isn’t it counterintuitive to be telling each new employee, “We can fire you for any reason or no reason”? In the face of the numerous exceptions to employment-at-will status (see yesterday’s Advisor), why would any company bother with at-will statements? Even though it may seem wrong from a morale standpoint, and […]
We need to know whether we can treat new employees differently as far as the benefits we offer them. For example, our policy says that with under five years of service, employees get two weeks of vacation. However, when we hire experienced people, they want us to match the vacation they had at their old […]
“Hi, I just need to see every electronic file and e-mail relating to Steve Smith and his employees, colleagues, bosses, and customers from the last year, please.” Arrrgh! Discovery should be easy in an age of electronic wizardry, but it’s a nightmare. If your company is sued over an employment (or any legal) matter, the […]
by David C. Hagaman, Ford & Harrison LLP Republicans won every Georgia statewide office and picked up one congressional seat from the Democrats. The most significant vote was the passage of a constitutional measure that gives Georgia courts the right to rewrite restrictive covenants in employment agreements without striking down the entire pact. The new […]
By Saul C. Glazer, Axley Brynelson LLP The Wisconsin General Assembly has introduced a new bill that would make it permissible for a school (see below for the specific entities covered) to fire or refuse to hire anyone with a felony conviction, regardless of how the felony relates to the employment. The Wisconsin Legislative Reference […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an April 30 deadline for claiming certain overpayments of the transitional reinsurance fee. The announcement covers overpayments due to miscalculating enrollment counts on which the fee is based. Such miscalculations occur for two reasons, CMS said: misapplication of a permitted method for determining the annual enrollment count; […]
It takes a lot of time and effort to deal with family leave issues, especially intermittent leave, says HR Manager Barbara Dahlen. Her pragmatic approach works, although she says she’s “not the most popular person” in her workplace.
New York State will become the sixth state where same-sex marriage is legal on July 24. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on June 24 signed the Marriage Equality Act (MEA) into law. Same-sex marriage already is legal in Massachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. The measure goes into effect one month […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is focusing “an enormous amount of attention” on misclassifying workers as exempt, non-exempt, and independent contractors and is throwing significant resources at the problem, according to attorney Susan G. Fentin, who spoke at the recent Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee. Plus, the DOL and the IRS are […]