Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
We’ve just uploaded the video footage of our “ERI Players” skit – A Day in the Life of HR – from November’s California Employment Law Update conference in San Francisco. The “ERI Players” are lawyers and HR experts who spoke at the conference, joined by John Young, a BLR employee – the skit covers a […]
Following on the heels of new benefit and notice requirements for health plans offering maternity coverage, a new federal law mandates that any plans that cover mastectomies must also cover breast reconstruction and prostheses. Employees have to be notified about these benefits at the beginning of this year. Check with your health benefits provider for […]
A new bill introduced in the state Legislature would expand the antiharassment provisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to require employers to protect workers from harassment by clients and customers. A.B. 76 is a response to a recent court ruling that employers aren’t liable under the FEHA for harassment by clients […]
After much delay and hoopla, the long-anticipated changes to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act have been finalized. They were released early today and will take effect Jan. 16, 2009.
The full Senate will soon consider a bill that would raise contribution limits for individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans. The maximum annual contribution for 401(k) plans would increase from $10,500 to $15,000. IRA limits would rise from $2,000 per year to $5,000, and “catch-up” provisions would allow workers aged 50 and older to put […]
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed big changes to the child labor regulations under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The DOL’s proposed rules would expand the list of jobs considered to be “particularly hazardous”—and off-limits—for 16- and 17-year-olds (and younger workers) to include working at poultry slaughtering plants, riding as passengers on forklifts, […]
It’s not unusual for employers to have a policy prohibiting workers from disclosing their salary to colleagues. And many a star employee has gotten a big bonus but been warned in hushed tones not to tell co-workers about it. What many employers don’t know is that both these practices are against the law. And, as […]
The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2002, private-industry employers recorded 4.7 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses, or 5.3 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers. About 2.5 million of the recorded cases involved lost workdays, transfer to another job, restriction of work duties, or a combination. The other 2.2 million […]
As we head into the last week of 2006, employers that haven’t done so already must take quick steps to ensure they’ll be ready to comply with the new California minimum wage come January 1.