Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
NBC trotted out a repeat — St. Patrick’s Day — last night. My colleague, Jaclyn West, wrote an excellent piece focusing on work-life balance when the episode originally aired back in March. Jaclyn’s post made me think about potential wage-hour issues that arise when employers demand long work days. It’s no secret that wage-hour litigation is a […]
By Burton J. Fishman In a prior notice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that its new Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) regulations would be issued this month and that new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations should be out in July. It now appears those dates were overly optimistic. In a public session […]
Litigation Value: training management on whistleblower protections — $10,000; settling customer claims due to the flaming printers — more than Sabre would like to think about; finding out Holly’s coming back — priceless. The printers aren’t the only things heating up at Sabre. Jo’s mission to root out the whistleblower had more than one person […]
By Alix Herber Canada’s two largest provinces — Ontario and Quebec — now have laws requiring employers to seek to provide workplaces free of “harassment.” No longer limited to human rights-related harassment, the term is broadly defined in these laws. Further, Ontario’s new law extends beyond harassment. It, like the federal law, also will require […]
On May 29, the Administrative Review Board (ARB) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an important decision on the scope of coverage of the nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions of Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA). […]
by Derek Knoechel In 1990, a 21-year-old woman was caught shoplifting. She then pleaded guilty to a charge of theft, receiving a conditional discharge. Some five years later, she applied for a position with the Montreal police force. So began a 13-year legal odyssey culminating in a Supreme Court of Canada decision (Montréal (City) v. […]
While the world has been focused on the U.S. and global economic meltdown, a historic presidential election, and staggering unemployment numbers, some pretty significant changes have been made in federal employment laws and regulations with most going into effect in just a few weeks. A recent issue of HR Hero Line includes a roundup of […]
Connecticut has become the third state to legalize same-sex civil marriages, which California and Massachusetts already recognize. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to overturn a lower court ruling that denied same-sex couples the right to marry on the grounds that existing laws allowing civil unions afforded them sufficient rights. Gay and lesbian couples sought […]
by Karen Sargeant Americans are not the only ones going to the polls for a federal election this year. Canadians are on their way, too. Despite a planned federal election for October 2009, the Prime Minister just called a federal election, to take place on October 14, 2008. So how would this election affect labor […]
Litigation Value: $2,000 for intentional infliction of emotional distress (caused by seeing Al Roker dance a jig before the commercial break) Watching the cast of The Office take on a group of American Gladiators in Celebrity Family Feud was just too great an opportunity for me to pass up last night. I was happy to […]