Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Employers take many steps to try to prevent the loss of trade secrets. You ask employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, implement security systems and train your workforce on how to keep information confidential. Despite your best efforts, a breach sometimes occurs and your trade secrets end up in a competitor’s hands. In a new case, […]
You can now access and download the form that will be required to report workplace injuries and illnesses starting Jan. 1, 2004.
The federal Department of Labor has found that Sun Microsystems in Santa Clara failed to comply with a rule requiring posting notices regarding hiring workers under the H-1B visa program. The DOL has now ordered Sun to display the notices, but hasn’t assessed any penalties or fines because it found that the posting violations weren’t […]
According to the annual Performance and Accountability Report released in November, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finished fiscal year 2011 with a 10 percent decrease in its pending-charge inventory, the first such reduction since 2002. At the same time, the agency achieved the highest-ever monetary amounts through administrative enforcement, and it received a record […]
Our accident rate is rising along with our workers’ comp costs, and management wants me to reverse the trend. What can I do to encourage employees to work safely?
The Social Security Administration has agreed to pay $7.75 million to settle a lawsuit by 2,200 male African-American current and former employees who claimed they were denied promotions and pay because of their race and sex. The lawsuit charged that African-American men were kept in low-grade jobs and were more likely to be disciplined than […]
Two important deadlines are approaching for HR. On April 3, employers must start using the new I-9 form. Initially the change was set to happen in February, but the Obama administration delayed it and other unimplemented regulations to allow time for further agency review. April 1 marks the beginning of the annual race for the […]
These new figures lower the benefits cost estimates, based in part on savings from last year’s reforms and AB 749. In other workers’ compensation reform news, Gov. Schwarzenegger continues to press the assembly for action by threatening a January ballot initiative to take the issue of workers’ comp reform to the voters.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 26 accepted an appeal of health care reform’s contraception coverage mandate. The cases that will be heard are Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius. (Kathleen Sebelius is named as a litigant in her capacity as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary.) The cases […]