Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
An apartment leasing agent for Los Angeles-based real estate management company Oakwood Worldwide filed a discrimination suit after being fired for allegedly refusing to remove a tongue stud. Mary Haudenshield claimed the stud was not visible and did not violate the company’s dress code. Oakwood has now agreed to reinstate Haudenshield and pay her back […]
Some California workers’ comp insurers have been placed on a financial watch list by the California Department of Insurance because rating agencies have raised questions about the insurers’ financial stability. According to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute, for each $1 in premiums taken in during 1999, workers’ comp insurers paid out about $1.51 for claims […]
The Industrial Welfare Commission has posted its revised wage orders. However, the IWC is waiting for further developments on the pending increase inthe state minimum wage before printing the new wage orders and distributing them to employers.
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 federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that UC Davis will have to face a trial on a charge by Ronald Y. Chuang, a microbiologist and AIDS researcher, that he was discriminated against because of his race and national origin. Chuang claims that the institution failed to give him a tenured position as […]
The National Labor Relations Board has said that temporary and contract workers who are jointly employed by a temp agency and the employer they work for may be included in union bargaining units together with regular employees in the client employer’s workplace. Temps don’t have to receive the same pay and benefits as regular employees, […]
On Election Day, November 7, 2000, you’re required to let employees take paid time off to vote if they don’t have sufficient time outside of work hours. Polling places are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. You don’t have to pay workers for more than two hours off and you can require that they […]
Unionized workers have long had the right to bring a union representative with them to a disciplinary hearing. Now, in a ruling that could complicate investigations into sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct in nonunion companies, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that nonunion workers have the same right to have a fellow employee […]
Corporate Express Delivery Systems Inc. will pay a total of $9.75 million to 4,300 former and current messengers in Hayward, Los Angeles and San Diego who claimed they were underpaid. The messengers, who were compensated on commission, charged that the company failed to pay them minimum wage or overtime and violated rules on expense reimbursement. […]
While Joni Grand was the acting jail administrator for the city of Glendale, she warned a subordinate, Marvin Quarles, about his inappropriate conduct toward female employees. She reported Quarles’ actions to her superiors who cautioned him as well, but ultimately decided that his actions didn’t amount to sexual harassment. A year later, Quarles became Grand’s […]