Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
We’ve worked to get our procedures in line with the OFCCP’s guidelines for Internet Applicants. Now I gather that the OFCCP has issued some new rules? Can you fill me in on what has changed? — Joan, HR Manager in La Jolla
Over the last several years, many employers have converted their traditional pension plans to cash balance plans. But according to two recent federal court decisions, these cash balance arrangements may violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, (ERISA), the federal law regulating employee benefits.
The California Franchise Tax Board has announced state tax benefits for businesses and employees who aid Hurricane Katrina relief efforts by donating the cash value of employee leave time. The program–which mirrors a similar federal IRS program announced last week–allows workers to donate unused sick, vacation, or other personal leave time in exchange for the […]
Employers and plan administrators that find the over-the-counter drug rules put in place by the health care reform law to be onerous may have relief, if the Ways and Means Committee has its way. The committee on May 31 in a 24-9 vote ordered H.R. 5842, the Restoring Access to Medication Act, reported to the […]
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that when public employees make statements as part of their official duties, those statements are not protected free speech. The case involved Richard Ceballos, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County who claimed his supervisors retaliated against him for sending a memo that said an affidavit […]
The EDD has now told us the new law allows an employee who has taken disability pregnancy leave to take six weeks of paid family leave, contrary to our statement in last month’s issue. The law is (seemingly) contradictory in several places. If clarification is provided, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, employers need […]
Whenever there’s a major power shift in government, it’s time to look at employment law again … and especially at federal-state conflicts. Just over two weeks and counting. Who’s counting? The Democratic Party, of course, anxiously awaiting the day … January 4th … that their dozen-year exile from control of Congress ends. When power shifts […]
A California appeals court has ruled that when an employee sues for hostile work environment sexual harassment, the employer can rely on evidence of the employee’s own sexual statements and conduct with the alleged harasser—whether in the workplace or not—to prove that the alleged harassment wasn’t unwelcome or abusive. The case involved a legal secretary […]
According to the results of a new survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, business owners and benefits managers whose companies currently pay for at least some health-insurance benefits expect healthcare costs to jump an additional 12 percent over the next year–and they will ask their employees to pay an average of 21 percent of […]