Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has published a checklist designed to help contractors analyze whether their affirmative action plans meet the government’s requirements for ensuring employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The checklist is designed to help federal contractors meet the requirements of Section 503 of the […]
Just when you may have thought the road was clear to an “honest belief” defense that linked employee termination to suspected leave abuse under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a ruling has put the brakes on that notion. A California appellate court has issued a decision against a large auto retailer that should cause […]
By Susan Prince, JD, Legal Editor The public comment period for the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed changes to the overtime regulations ended on September 4th, 2015. Almost 250,000 comments were received, which represent the diverse views on the proposed changes—particularly the steep increase to the salary level required for exemption.
If you think an ex-employee is using your trade secrets to build a competing business, you might decide to haul the person into court to protect your confidential information. But you have to be very careful with what you say about the employee or this move could backfire, which is what happened recently to a […]
According to one report by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 90% of the 6,450 transgender and gender-nonconforming people who were surveyed reported “experiencing harassment or mistreatment on the job or took actions to avoid it.” And a whopping 47% of the individuals surveyed reported being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion because of […]
What should an arbitrator do when a fired employee is too bad to be reinstated, but dismissal was for one reason or another unjustified? Surprisingly, for Canadian arbitrators the answer seems increasingly to be: “Give ‘em a big payout.” They are increasingly awarding these unsalvageable employees bigger awards than good employees would get in a […]
by Jim Goh Behind efforts to assist organized labor and improve the balance between work and family, increasing workplace safety is a top priority for President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress. Both the President and congressional leaders have vowed more funding for the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) […]
Careful planning and follow-up are essential to effective training and neither has to break your budget, according to Sharon Birkman Fink, president and CEO of Birkman International, Inc. “It’s more about creativity than a big budget.” When preparing for a training session, she recommends that trainers find appropriate jokes or funny cartoons to include in […]
Most businesses recognize that employee collaboration is a must for a productive and efficient workplace, but many companies aren’t taking advantage of one of the best tools for promoting that collaboration—technology.
A few weeks ago, we posted a series of blogs on blunders by entry- or low-level employees that ended up costing their companies big money. Unfortunately, Google has recently had its own blunder; we’ll discuss that here, as well as what we can learn from Google’s mistake.