Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Even non-exempt employees can cause confusion and employer liability under the FLSA. Often, employers run into trouble when attempting to classify their employees for purposes of pay exemptions. But equally tricky is how to pay non-exempt employees who have non-traditional forms of payment, such as tipped employees. The recent slew of major FLSA wage and […]
By Gilda Villaran On February 24, 2012, a new simplified process for certain foreign workers seeking entry to the Province of Quebec was announced. Instead of applying to only seven information technology occupations, as before, the simplified process will apply to 44 occupations in a variety of fields. This is an important development not only […]
By Thora Sigurdson We all know that, where applicable, it’s important to take care in drafting confidentiality, noncompetition, and nonsolicitation terms in employment, contractor, and other agreements. A recent case in British Columbia, Cruise Connections Canada v. Cancellieri, reminds us of the value of having a “duty of good faith” clause. It also illustrates how […]
The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design are in effect officially as of March 15. These standards were adopted as part of the revised regulations for Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and will make buildings and facilities accessible to more than 54 million Americans with disabilities. […]
A federal appellate court may reconsider its views on “reassignment” as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act, at the request of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC takes the position that the ADA requires employers to reassign employees, whose disability prevents them from performing their current job, to a vacant position […]
by Mark I. Schickman The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) lists as one of its purposes the creation of a uniform national labor policy. That might have been the thought nearly 80 years ago when the NLRA was enacted, but it is the furthest thing from the truth today — as state-to-state conflicts in employment […]
A health insurer agreed to pay $1.5 million and adopt a detailed corrective action plan to resolve HIPAA security allegations stemming from a 2009 data breach. This is the first HIPAA enforcement action to result from the breach reports now required by the HITECH Act. Like many data breaches that have been making the news […]
By Arthur Silbergeld, Esq. Anyone who works on a computer knows the sinking feeling that comes with hitting that nasty combination of keystrokes causing your machine to freeze. The fact that many companies now keep IT staff available around the clock just to help frantic employees get their misbehaving computers working, retrieve lost documents and […]
by Jeffrey S. Beck Most employers are aware that to meet the burden of establishing a discrimination claim under the indirect method (i.e., without “smoking gun” evidence of discriminatory intent), an employee must offer evidence that similarly situated individuals outside her protected class were treated more favorably. While that principle is well established, cases can […]
By Kyla Stott-Jess and Gulu Punia A difficult employee states that he is quitting and walks out the door. Problem solved? Or just beginning? Recent cases illustrate that it’s hard to know when an employee has quit in the eyes of the courts in Canada. And it can be expensive when you get it wrong. […]