Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The kind of information exchange that’s necessary before and during a merger or acquisition can raise thorny HIPAA privacy issues, and federal guidance on the subject is sparse at best — especially for employers and other plan sponsors, Senior Editor David Slaughter writes. In such a transaction between companies that are themselves covered by HIPAA […]
New York State will become the sixth state where same-sex marriage is legal on July 24. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on June 24 signed the Marriage Equality Act (MEA) into law. Same-sex marriage already is legal in Massachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. The measure goes into effect one month […]
Email has made it easier than ever for plaintiffs’ attorneys to discover wrongdoing and prove liability, an expert said today at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in Las Vegas. “The ‘e’ in email is for ‘eternal evidence,’” said Mindy H. Chapman, Esq., president of Chicago-based training firm Mindy Chapman & Associates LLC. A company that has 1,000 employees, each of […]
How’s this for an illustration of how quickly developments can pop up that may require you to revise your employee handbook? Speaking at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference today, Christine V. Walters discussed a new ruling only five days old, in which a federal appeals court held that an overly broad confidentiality policy […]
By Mark Colavecchia The duty to accommodate is one of the most difficult issues Canadian employers regularly face. While courts across the country have attempted to define the scope of an employer’s legal obligations with a workable degree of certainty, the practical application of the duty to accommodate remains complex and problematic. The issue is […]
With summer officially upon us, we resume the daunting task of helping the search committee sift through the would-be successors to Michael Scott. Turning our focus to outside candidates, this post evaluates a man whose ego is as big as the state for which he is named: Robert California. Delivering a Walken-esque performance, James Spader‘s […]
Holy Ferris Bueller! Is it possible that some of your employees are calling in sick to have fun in the sun? It’s hard to quantify how many people play hooky from work just to enjoy beautiful, warm weather, but according to a recent CareerBuilder’s annual survey on absenteeism, 29 percent of workers took a faux […]
In a ruling that will make it more difficult for employees to mount massive class action lawsuits against employers, the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed class certification previously granted to 1.5 million female Wal-Mart employees alleging sex discrimination against the retail chain. Overturning a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, the Court found that […]
By Kyla Stott-Jess Canadian employers that fear large jury awards in wrongful dismissal cases can breathe a little easier in the wake of a recent Alberta Court of Appeal decision. In Elgert v. Home Hardware Stores Ltd., the court of appeal said a $500,000 jury award for aggravated and punitive damages in a wrongful dismissal […]
Litigation Value: $0.00. But Dwight needs to put at least $20 in the collection plate. Sometimes The Office does not take place in the office. Such was the case in this week’s repeat broadcast of “Christening,” which takes place on a Sunday at Jim’s and Pam’s church. As guests file in, Dwight Schrute hands out […]