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.

Supreme Court sides with EEOC in religious discrimination case

A ruling in a closely watched religious discrimination case means employers may be liable for discrimination if they base employment decisions on an applicant’s suspected religious practices even in situations, such as the one in this case, in which the applicant hasn’t directly disclosed a need for a religious accommodation. On June 1, the U.S. […]

Employer Owes Employee an Effective Fix, Not His Preference

Employers are not required to grant an employee’s desired accommodation, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed. Instead, they need only provide one that is effective. The court reached that conclusion in Noll v. IBM, No. 13-4096-cv (2nd Cir. May 21, 2015) when it determined that IBM had accommodated a deaf employee by […]

Pay Budgets and Variable Pay—What’s Really Happening?

Increases. Budgets. Bonuses. Variable Pay. Compensation is never a simple issue, but it’s an important cornerstone of employee engagement and satisfaction, as well as talent acquisition. What’s happening with pay budgets and variable pay in the real world? What are your competitors up to? Help us find out!

Proposed rules on contractor ‘blacklisting’ order published

by Judith E. Kramer The controversial proposed “blacklisting” regulations implementing President Barack Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order have been published in the May 28 edition of the Federal Register for notice and comment. The proposed regulations were issued by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council. The order, which the proposed regulations interpret, […]

Appeals court keeps hold on Obama’s immigration orders

No quick resolution is in sight to the uncertainty surrounding President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration. On May 26, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift a temporary hold on Obama’s actions, which were designed to ease deportation worries for millions of undocumented immigrants who have been […]

Fire up the paper shredder: DOL issues new FMLA forms

Time to head to the paper shredder. The expired Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) forms the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) told you to keep using have been replaced. As first reported by attorney Jeff Nowak in his “FMLA Insights” blog, the DOL recently issued new FMLA forms that don’t expire until May 31, […]

Will a Smartphone Call Count as Overtime? DOL Is Exploring the FLSA Issues

Smartphone use has complicated employer calculations of working time and overtime for years, and it now appears to have caught the interest of the U.S. Department of Labor, which recently announced plans to collect information on how the use of smartphones impacts hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In its spring 2015 regulatory […]