Category: HR Management & Compliance
There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with a disability. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can significantly affect an individual’s ability to function in various aspects of life, including the workplace. Those with PTSD are likely considered disabled under the ADA, […]
In the 2025 book “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” the authors confidently predict how superhuman AI will lead to the annihilation of humanity. The book isn’t fiction. Existential threat or not, AI is here and growing all around us, including, increasingly, in the workplace. Its prevalence raises significant issues for unionized employers, such as […]
Q: Must we reimburse an employee for the expense of an Uber ride if we normally reimburse her for taking the bus? Generally, no, but it depends. Federal law doesn’t require the reimbursement of travel expenses for business purposes in most situations. However, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that nonexempt employees are paid […]
AI is rapidly transforming and becoming increasingly integrated into employer’s decision-making. Employers are leveraging AI tools to streamline hiring, manage employee performance, draft contracts, policies, or other legal documents, and even to answer complex legal questions. But as the adoption of AI in HR accelerates, so do the risks. For employers in particular, which have […]
Q: Our technicians travel to different jobsites with company-provided vehicles, and they don’t typically drive to a central company location but rather drive from site to site and then home at the end of the day. Is the travel time to the first worksite and then back home at the end of the day compensable, […]
Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made unannounced changes to their Form I-9 inspection guidance. Employers are required to verify the identity and employment authorization for all employees through the completion of the Form I-9 employment eligibility verification. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act and as outlined in 8 U.S. Code §1324a, employers can be […]
Employers would be well-served to review their policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that they are in line with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) current focus and priorities. Pay Attention to EEOC’s Targets The watch words of “equity versus equality” underpin the EEOC’s targets for enforcement actions. According to official and unofficial statements made […]
Sometimes, employers struggle with whether to pay employees for overtime hours they didn’t know the employees were working. As two recent court cases demonstrate, what an employer knew and when it knew it can decide whether a company is obligated to pay for overtime work. Autonomous Agency Manager Jerry Merritt supervised insurance agents in his […]
It used to be pretty well settled in Massachusetts (and many other places) that an employee couldn’t win an employment discrimination case without proving their employer’s allegedly discriminatory actions caused them to suffer meaningful harm—i.e., that the “adverse employment action” their employer took against them was “material.” That changed back in 2024, when the U.S. […]
In the wake of Loper Bright, many employers have questioned whether long-standing federal regulations remain on solid footing. On April 1, 2026, in DOL v. Americare Healthcare Services,the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit provided a clear answer – yes, where Congress has expressly delegated authority to an agency. In a decision with immediate implications […]