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 High Cost of Low Morale . . . and What to Do About It

Author and talent management expert Carol A. Hacker writes about her book “The High Cost of Low Morale . . . and What to Do About It.” She offers tips from her book for reducing employee turnover. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average cost of one turnover is 30 percent of the […]

Ready for F-Day? (January 16 Is FMLA Day)

Scurrying to get ready for F-Day? All the new FMLA changes are effective January 16. We’ve gathered some compliance tips from a nationally recognized expert, attorney Frank Alvarez. Alvarez is national coordinator of law firm Jackson Lewis’s Disability, Leave & Health Management Practice Group. Here are his thoughts on some changes employers have hoped for. […]

Two Rules for Smart Hiring

Hiring even one new employee invokes no fewer than seven federal laws and several state laws as well, says attorney Stephen R. Woods. How does an employer navigate this legal minefield? Woods, a shareholder with the national law firm of Ogletree Deakins, offered two tips at a recent BLR Employment Law Update conference in Las […]

Business Week’s Bestseller List

Business Week ranks business books that are the most recent bestsellers and provides a short summary. 1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. As you’d expect with Gladwell, there are lots of surprises in his explanation of why some people succeed fantastically. Pluck and smarts get less play here than such matters as […]

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed

Update: U.S. Senate has passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and it has been sent to President Barack Obama. He is scheduled to sign the bill into law on Jan. 29, 2009. In one of its first major employment law actions of the year, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that will […]

Benefits 2009 HR Hero Survey

Each January, HR Hero asks its readers about the benefits their company plans to offer in the new year. With the changes in the economy and employers looking for ways to cut expenses, will they be reducing benefits or passing more of the cost of them on to employee? Take the survey and we’ll report […]

New E-Verify Rule for Federal Contractors Delayed

Update: E-verify deadline moved to September 2009 Federal contractors have been given at least a temporary reprieve from the E-Verify regulations that were set to go into effect January 15. Under the plan, the contractors would be required to begin using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services E-Verify system to ensure that their employees are […]

Overtime Regs: Time for DOL to Get to the 21st Century?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Pondering arcane overtime rules, BLR founder and CEO Bob Brady asks “Isn’t it about time that the U.S. Department of Labor emerges from its cave and joins the 21st century?” I’m speaking of overtime regulations. At BLR, we have several salespeople earning between $70,000 and $100,000 a year. […]

Do Your Application Forms Include Recommended Statements and Authorizations?

In yesterday’s Advisor, we shared some of attorney Stephen R. Woods’ rules for avoiding hiring lawsuits. Today we bring you more tips, and an introduction to a new audio conference about the mundane—but critical—challenge of HR recordkeeping. Woods, a shareholder at the Greenville, South Carolina office of law firm Ogletree Deakins, delivered his remarks at […]

Marijuana Disclaimer Must Be Crystal Clear, Court Rules

California law prohibits employers from asking job applicants about most marijuana-related convictions that are more than two years old. A new California appeals court decision, Starbucks v. Superior Court (Lords), highlights the fact that employers must be extremely clear with applicants that they are not seeking this barred info.