Tag: news

Ruling supports firing pot smokers despite Colorado law

The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld an employee’s firing for off-duty marijuana use, despite medical and recreational use of the drug being allowed under state law. A quadriplegic employee who used marijuana under the state’s medical marijuana amendment filed a lawsuit after he tested positive for drugs in violation of company policy and was […]

Colorado civil union law takes effect May 1

by Rebecca Hudson Colorado’s new civil union law goes into effect May 1, meaning Colorado joins eight other states that permit civil unions or have similar laws that recognize them. Nine other states and Washington, D.C., allow same-sex marriage. Under the Colorado Civil Union Act, the state will recognize civil unions entered into by same-sex […]

ECN attorneys get updates from top Washington officials, observers

The Employers Counsel Network (ECN), a group of attorneys from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada who specialize in employment law matters, is meeting April 24-26 in Alexandria, Virginia, to learn about the latest developments from Congress and the Obama administration that are of importance to employers.   The attorneys, who represent employers on all […]

What Is the Role of Reinforcement in Effective Training?

Content and delivery are not necessarily to blame when training fails to drive long-lasting behavioral change. More often, the blame rests with a lack of reinforcement back on the job, says Mike Ryan, senior vice president of Marketing and Strategy for Madison Performance Group (www.MadisonPG.com). “Training is a key business imperative, but the long-term results […]

New Tennessee law prohibits local mandates on pay, benefits

by Kara Shea On April 11, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed into law a bill prohibiting local governments from mandating health insurance benefits, leave policies, hourly wage standards, or prevailing wage standards that deviate from existing requirements of state and federal law as a condition of doing business with or within the jurisdiction of the […]

Job programs, misclassification initiative among DOL budget priorities

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new budget request pushes programs to help veterans and the long-term unemployed while continuing priorities from previous years, including efforts to fight misclassification of workers as independent contractors. The DOL’s fiscal year 2014 budget requests $12.1 billion in discretionary funding—money Acting Labor Secretary Seth D. Harris said will be […]

H-1B visa cap met in first week

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it reached the statutory H-1B visa cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2014 during the first week of the filing period. This is the first time since 2008 that the cap has been met during the first week. The H-1B program allows U.S. businesses to employ […]

Obama urges swift confirmation of new NLRB nominees

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), crippled by a January court ruling against two recess appointees, has the potential to get back to full strength if the Senate confirms nominations President Barack Obama made April 9. Previous attempts to fill the NLRB have failed over congressional opposition to Board actions and Obama’s nominees. On April […]

Are Difficult Trainees Having a Negative Effect on Your Training?

“The biggest goal as an instructor is to get difficult people on board and to minimize the impact they might have on others,” says Pluth, whose firm has coined terms for some of the most common types of difficult participants: The Latecomer, The Know-It-All, The Introvert, The Socializer, The Confused, and The Sleeper. She recommends […]