Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Rosalind H. Cooper As we reported earlier this year, Canadian courts are being asked with increasing frequency to expand the definition of “workplace” under occupational health and safety legislation.
For many of you, it’s the first day back to work after the holidays, which means you’re swamped with voice-mails, e-mails, meetings and performance appraisals. As (reading) time is short these days, enjoy the following Hot List, which ticks off the top business audio books for 2007. This list is courtesy of the “Audies.” Think […]
Everything going smoothly with the new FMLA regs? They are now officially a few weeks old, but many HR managers fear the hassles are just beginning. The Department of Labor (DOL) says the revisions were designed to clarify the requirements and to improve communication between employers and employees. To some extent, these goals may be […]
Fast on the heels of the latest pertinent appeals court ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court definitively announced on Nov. 14 it will decide the question of whether Congress exceeded its powers to regulate commerce when it required people to buy health insurance as part of health reform (or in the converse, whether the individual mandate is allowed […]
Allowing an employee to sit for half of her shift, thereby eliminating several job duties, is “per se” unreasonable, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has found. The case, EEOC v. Eckerd Corp. (d/b/a Rite Aid) (No. 1:10-CV-2816-JEC (N.D. Ga., July 9, 2012)), involved Fern Strickland, a drugstore cashier with osteoarthritis […]
When business demands send employees around the world, employers face a range of unique safety concerns—political unrest, illnesses such as SARS, and even unfamiliar local customs. And as an employer, you’re expected to extend your umbrella of care as far as your employees go. Although it’s impossible to plan for all possible contingencies, here’s a […]
We hear a lot in the news these days about the historically low unemployment rate, but one figure we don’t hear about nearly as much is the labor force participation rate—the ratio between the size of the labor force and the size of the overall population for that age group, often grouped by cohort (i.e., […]
Regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the federal health care reform, Humana and UnitedHealth Group on June 11 announced that they would continue several of health reform’s insurance mandates. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether the “individual mandate” (for everyone to get health insurance or pay a penalty) is unconstitutional, but […]
It sounds like a trick question. Guess whose employees are growing a garden? It just couldn’t be, but it is—the workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)! Agency employees across the country are growing gardens and distributing the harvest to food banks and shelters. “USDA created the People’s Garden Initiative 3 years ago, and […]
A jury in Manhattan, New York, has awarded $11.2 million to the former general manager of Leona Helmsley’s luxury Park Lane Hotel. The worker claimed he was fired because his is gay. Former manager Charles Bell charged that Helmsley embarked on a campaign of harassment against him—and ultimately discharged him after just four months on […]