Most Popular

Holidays PTO Survey: How Sick Leave May Be Used

Sick days may be used by employees to care for (check all that apply):   Dependent Child Parent Other Exempt Employees 418 (92%) 356 (78.4%) 249 (54.8%) Nonexempt Employees 408 (89.9%) 345 (76%) 238 (52.4%)   Previous       Next

Health Reform Action to Correct 30-hour week Unlikely Before 2015

Congressional aides from both chambers of Congress and both parties said they do not expect immediate action on changing health care reform’s 30-hour a week definition of a full-time workers, or on banning “skinny” health plans that do not cover major categories of health benefits. The staffers predicted that even if enrollment is lower than […]

Do Interns Crash the Learned House of Geeks?

It’s hard to believe that the “wedding crashers” would be allowed to crash into the citadel of Internet security and secrecy, that house of learned geeks—the Google campus! A new movie, “The Internship,” starring Will Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Owen Wilson, was rumored to be filming in Silicon Valley.   And yes, these 40-ish guys are […]

News Notes: EDD Rescinds New Pregnancy Disability Policy

Last month we reported that the California Employment Development Department announced it would pay maternity disability benefits only for the time period a woman is actually disabled from working rather than for the four weeks before childbirth and six weeks after (or eight for a cesarean). The agency has now abruptly reversed itself-and reinstated the […]

News Notes: Retirees Sue Pacbell Over Severance Plan

In a recent decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has given six former PacBell employees the green light to sue on charges that the company induced them to accept an early retirement package by not disclosing that it was considering offering a better severance program. The court rejected PacBell’s claim that it had no […]

Retention: What if 75% of Your Workers Found Other Jobs?

The bad news is that surveys are showing that three of every four of your workers are probably job hunting. The good news is that there are retention strategies to keep them. If you’re not doing anything special right now, stick your head out the door and look down the corridor. Now imagine three out […]

News Notes: New EEOC Fact Sheets Address Workplace Backlash Against Muslims And Arabs

Responding to a surge of discrimination complaints from employees of Middle-Eastern descent following the events of Sept. 11, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released two new fact sheets to answer questions about the employment of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and Sikhs. One fact sheet is geared toward employers, the other for employees. The […]

Recruiting Employees: Supreme Court Says You Can Be Bound by Out-of-State Noncompete Agreements; Practical Impact

Most California employers know that agreements that restrict employees from competing with former employers are illegal and that California courts won’t enforce them. But because of a new California Supreme Court ruling, it is now riskier for you to hire someone who has signed a noncompete clause with a company from another state. This new […]

News Notes: UC Professor Claims Race Bias In Tenure Decision

The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that UC Davis will have to face a trial on a charge by Ronald Y. Chuang, a microbiologist and AIDS researcher, that he was discriminated against because of his race and national origin. Chuang claims that the institution failed to give him a tenured position as […]