Tag: Employment law

D.C. insight: OSHA, OFCCP stepping up enforcement

by Sophie E. Zdatny At a recent Employers Counsel Network (ECN) conference in Alexandria, Virginia, several notable speakers stopped by to provide their insights on current developments in the employment arena at the national level and to share their predictions for President Barack Obama’s second term. Highlights include increased regulatory activity from the Equal Employment […]

identify

Discrimination and document abuse in the hiring process

by Kathy Neal You’ve been verifying I-9s since the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) took effect in 1986. You know the difference between List A, B, and C documents, and you can fill out I-9s in your sleep. Imagine your surprise to receive a letter from the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair […]

Canada’s temporary foreign worker program set to change

By Thora A. Sigurdson Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has been under fire of late. Temporary foreign workers sued Denny’s. Latin American tunnel diggers brought a human rights complaint against SELI. A British Columbia union complained that miners from China were taking jobs in northern B.C. And the Royal Bank’s decision to contract out […]

Finale

Litigation Value:  Bless your heart if you’re still keeping track at this point. This blog has always focused on bad behavior.  We tease out employment law issues by writing about the characters who do things in the workplace that one simply does not do. So last night’s series finale of the The Office poses quite […]

Senate to debate comp time option for private employers after House passes Working Families Flexibility Act

On May 8, 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1406, the Working Families Flexibility Act, which would allow employers to offer compensatory time off in lieu of time-and-a-half cash wages for overtime. Employees would be allowed to “cash out” unused comp time within specified periods of time. While the Society for Human Resource […]

Survey says: training and development

Recently, BLR surveyed 700 HR professionals on the training and development practices at their organizations. The survey asked about types of training conducted, frequency of training, training methods, and types of training products and services used. Here are some of the findings of the survey: When asked who makes decisions about training, 70% of the […]

Nation looks to Arizona’s experience with E-Verify

by Dinita L. James Reports out of the nation’s capital indicate the time finally may be right for comprehensive immigration reform. The word “comprehensive” encompasses a lot of issues, including border security and what some call a “pathway to citizenship” and others call “amnesty.” Everyone describing the scope of comprehensive immigration reform seems to include […]

Employer Will Pay $50,000 to Settle EEOC’s First GINA Lawsuit

An Oklahoma employer will pay $50,000 to settle the first lawsuit the federal government filed to enforce the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The case, Civil Case No.: 13-CV-248-CVE-PJC, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is tasked with enforcing GINA, filed suit […]

No nonsense

Litigation Value:  Office romance with the new Regional Manager (and A.A.R.M.) = fodder for a potential sexual harassment claim; eliminating nonsense from the workplace = every human resources manager’s dream; Dwight giving up a milk maid to marry his long-time love and father his beet-loving offspring = priceless. As John Krasinski explained in a recent […]

Mood problem or mental disorder? When can employers discipline?

By Kyla Stott-Jess Employers in Canada can’t discriminate against employees based on mental disabilities. But the broad interpretation that courts and arbitration boards frequently apply to human rights laws often makes it difficult to know where the boundaries of “mental disability” lie. In a recent arbitration decision in Ontario, Windsor (City) and WPFFA (Elliot), the […]