Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Back in September 2001, we reported on a California employer that was hit with a $30 million lawsuit after one of its employees struck and killed a teenager while driving and using a cell phone. Now the employee, a former attorney, has been ordered to pay $2 million to the family of the teenager, Naeun […]
A union worker is about to be called into a monthly performance meeting. He asks if he needs union representation, and you say no. Then, because of something that occurs during the meeting, you terminate him. Were you wrong not to put off the meeting until he had representation? We’ll review a recent National Labor […]
Suppose your company is undergoing a merger, and employees are offered a bonus for promising to stay on for a certain period of time—perhaps three or six months—during the rocky transition period. Do you have to pay the full bonus to an employee who goes out on family leave for some of that period? A […]
Employers are required by the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to employees to care for a newly born or adopted child. Once the employee has returned to work, however, no federal or state laws obligate employers to give child care assistance. However, national studies show that […]
Workplace stress plagues the American workforce. Recent surveys suggest that 40% of workers find their jobs to be “very stressful” and 26% are often burned out by them. The economy’s recent downturn makes matters even worse: workers may feel a need to prove their value at the same time that supervisors are being forced to […]
Some common misconceptions keep small employers from offering health benefits to their employees, according to a recent study by the UCLA/UC Berkeley Health Insurance Policy Program. The study revealed that 38 percent of California employers with 10 to 50 employees don’t offer coverage. The reasons why include these erroneous perceptions: it’s too expensive; it doesn’t […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency charged with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws, has been sued for age bias by three of its former staff attorneys in Atlanta. Maureen Malone, 56, and William Outlaw, 62, claim they were forced into retirement after being given a choice of transferring to other offices or being terminated. And […]
About 1,300 former Taco Bell workers have won a lawsuit in Oregon that charged that supervisors doctored employee time cards in order to meet productivity goals and earn bonuses. Taco Bell supervisors allegedly admitted that they were pressured by senior managers to shave hours off time cards. Paul Breed, an attorney for the workers, has […]
Five years ago, the EEOC issued rules explaining which medical exams you could require and what health questions you could ask job applicants without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Now, newly released guidance from the EEOC helps clear up some of the uncertainty employers face when these types of issues come up […]
You’ve probably encountered one sometime or another. The supervisor who resorts to name-calling when dealing with subordinates. The worker who’s quick to blame others for mistakes. The manager who penalizes employees by excluding them from important meetings, removing them from routing lists or saddling them with menial work assignments. Although these workplace bullies may not […]