Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
To ensure that individuals who join [Company Name] are well qualified and have a strong potential to be productive and successful employees, it is [Company Name]’s policy to investigate the backgrounds and employment references of applicants. In addition, [Company Name] may conduct background investigations when employees are being considered for promotions or transfers, or in […]
Recently, Lynn Noyes, a permanent software developer at temp agency Kelly Services in Nevada City (near Sacramento) won a massive $6.5 million verdict when a jury found that Noyes’ manager failed to select Noyes for promotion because she lacked certain religious beliefs held by that manager. Evidence in the case showed that the manager also […]
The California Supreme Court has issued an important decision that makes it clear that employers cannot restrain an employee’s ability to compete, regardless of how reasonable or narrow the restrictions. As a result of this ruling, employers should do a thorough review of their employment agreements to ensure they do not contain unlawful noncompetition provisions.
We have many employment documents that bear a seal or have a signature or a notary’s stamp. If we scan the documents and store them electronically, can we keep (and properly index) only the original pages that have the seal, signature, etc., and destroy the rest of the pages? Or, even better, can we scan […]
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has slapped restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory, Inc., headquartered in Calabasas, with a class-action lawsuit alleging male-on-male sexual harassment at a restaurant in Arizona.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the level of scrutiny courts must apply when an employee challenges a denial of benefits and the plan administrator, whether the employer or an insurance company, played the dual role of determining whether the employee was eligible for benefits and paying benefits out of its own pocket.1 The […]
I work at a church and have been told that we’re exempt from the California Fair Employment and Housing Act’s (FEHA) requirements. Is this true?
We have a lot of teenagers working here this summer. Does California’s new cell phone law have more stringent restrictions for them than for adults?
I ran a background check on an employee I just hired and discovered that she faces serious criminal charges pending a hearing but has not been convicted. Some of the charges (to name a few) are assault in the first and second degree and theft over $500. Technically she didn’t lie on the application because […]