Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
In a recent meeting with President Vicente Fox of Mexico, a delegation of American senators led by Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas) pledged to initiate a new guest worker program that would bring Mexican workers into the U.S. and effectively grant amnesty to as many as 7 million Mexicans currently working here illegally. According to Gramm, […]
by By J. Robert Brame, McGuireWoods, LLP U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has announced he will retire at the end of the current Court session in June or July. Stevens, who turns 90 on April 20 and is the longest-serving member of the current Court, had hinted that a decision on retirement might […]
A new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reveals that the percentage of workers who accepted their employer’s offer of healthcare insurance dropped from 85.3 percent in 1998 to 80.3 percent in 2003. The drop means that 3 million fewer workers who are eligible for employer-sponsored health coverage elected to enroll in it over […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady My February 1 e-pinion declared that while we’d all like to make universal health care an entitlement, it’s just not going to happen as aging Baby Boomers threaten to collapse the system. Serious compromise will be called for. Well, that column generated many interesting responses. Here’s a sampling: […]
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 […]
In early January, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour over a period of 26 months. The legislation did not include tax breaks to offset the impact on employers. Now, however, the measure has failed to win enough votes in the Senate, […]
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) has laid out a series of labor proposals for the coming year. They include expanding the federal family leave law to cover employers with as few as 10 workers; requiring employers to contribute to the cost of health insurance for employees and their families; and increasing the federal minimum wage by […]
If you have employees worried about the potential effects of radiation exposure from last week’s tragedy in Japan, California public health officials emphasize that there is no cause for concern.