Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The Wage & Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor, which enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), recovered more than $280 million in back wages for over 308,000 employees in Fiscal Year 2012. This map reflects a sampling of 2013 WHD enforcement activity—including recovery of wages and punitive damages—taken against employers in […]
The Employers’ Counsel Network includes the attorneys from each state who write BLR’s state employment law newsletters. Marcus is one of the EEOC mediators based in the Boston office of the EEOC. Mediation vs. Enforcement Marcus explains the essential differences between the mediation and enforcement roles of her agency: Enforcement Find out what happened. Determine […]
The Two Problems Fentin, who is a partner in the Springfield, Massachusetts, law firm, Skoler, Abbott & Presser P.C., points out the two sometimes opposing desires of dealing with employees with chronic illnesses: Supporting the employee with chronic illness, and Managing the employee with the chronic illness. Balancing these two needs isn’t easy, Fentin admits. […]
As an HR person, you care about people, says attorney Susan Fentin. Your impulse is to help; however, if the problem is driving the business down, you may not be able to help. You need to balance these sometimes-competing interests, and that’s not often easy. What are the issues when an employee is chronically ill? […]
[Go here for sins 1 through 6.] Sin #7. Making wagehour blunders We’re out of overtime. Can you clock out and then set up for tomorrow? You’ll be working alongside our regular employees, but you new recruits are all independent contractors. Tracy, make sure you stay close to the phone during lunch. Sandy, keep your […]
What is VBBD? It’s about taking a comprehensive approach to helping employees to be healthier—and helping the company to save money. McCormick, a consultant with Fallon Benefits Group in Atlanta, made her remarks at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Las Vegas. What Are the Keys to VBBD? McCormick offers the following necessary […]
Happy Holidays to all our readers from the Advisor Team: Amanda, Chelsea, Kate, Rafael, and Steve! [Go here for privacy issues 1 to 4.] 5. Social Networking Sites Employees have increasingly been utilizing social networking sites for a variety of uses, both personal and professional. Although these sites can be beneficial, their use can also […]
Only a Reasonable Expectation It is important to remember that employees have only a reasonable expectation of privacy. Employers can lower the threshold of what is considered reasonable by developing a clear policy addressing workplace privacy issues and communicating the policy to their employees. Private Employees Enjoy Relatively Little Freedom Several states have enacted statutory […]
In yesterday’s Advisor,we learned exemption status of many specific jobs. Today, the tricky status of executive assistants, team leaders, and supervisors who perform nonexempt duties, plus we introduce the all-things-HR website, HR.BLR.com. Supervisors Who Perform Concurrent Duties Supervisors who perform both exempt and nonexempt work may still qualify as exempt employees under the law. For […]
Wage and hour is supposed to be simple, but it just refuses to be easy. Lots of jobs fall into that gray area between exempt and nonexempt. For clarification on specific jobs, we turned to BLR’s Wage & Hour Self-Audit Guide®. Athletic Trainers Athletic trainers who have successfully completed 4 academic years of preprofessional and […]