Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By a vote of 315 to 116, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to approve legislation that would boost the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three steps over a period of 26 months. The measure now moves to the Senate for consideration.
On April 14, employers with small health plans must be in compliance with HIPAA privacy rules. If you aren’t yet in compliance, you must take steps immediately to avoid potential fines and criminal penalties.
Employers and plan administrators can have a better understanding of what a fiduciary is, courtesy of Phyllis C. Borzi, Department of Labor (DOL) assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). She shed some light on the department’s thought process on this matter at the March 13 ERISA Advisory Council meeting. The DOL’s efforts […]
Delay Penalties and Utilization Review AB 1557 provides that an employee isn’t entitled to the usual 10 percent increase in workers’ compensation benefits for an unreasonable delay in providing medical treatment if the delay was necessary to complete the new utilization review process required of employers by the workers’ comp reform legislation (see below).
Graduating college students are often warned that the content in their online profiles can hurt their chances of gaining employment. But as social media usage increases, so do the risks to employers, who are now seeing a rise in social media lawsuits. Next week the National Labor Relations Board will hear the case of a […]
In what could be the first case under California’s new law barring discipline for off-duty conduct, a former employee of the Los Angeles Police Relief Association says she was fired after disclosing her plans to marry a prison inmate. Cipriana Ortiz claims that when she informed the association that she was engaged to a prisoner, […]
On October 7, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court reconvened for a new session. The court’s docket this term includes a case involving whether physician-shareholders can be counted as employees for purposes of determining employer coverage under the Americans with Disabilities Act and a case regarding whether state employers can be sued for violations of the […]
If employee turnover rates at your organization are high, it’s probably time to focus on what you can do to increase employee retention. Why? Frequent turnover can have a host of negative consequences for your company, including lost productivity, costs associated with hiring a new employee, the cost of temporary employees or overtime to cover […]
Charles Sinatra, a long-time assistant principal with the Chico Unified School District, sued for wrongful termination in violation of public policy when the district refused his request for transfer to a part-time administrative position, instead giving him a full-time teaching assignment. He claimed he was “forced” to quit for exercising his statutory right under […]