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Do Your People Need Training on Return-to-Work Programs?

Let’s talk about easing an employee’s return to work after recovering from a workers’ compensation injury or illness. Rehabilitation programs help employees regain strength or learn to function with a disability. Therapy teaches employees ways to work without reinjury or repeat illness—for example, proper lifting techniques or stress management techniques. Medical professionals will determine when […]

Harassment Claims: Employers’ Failure To Take Action Results In Big Verdicts

When a male supervisor harasses a female employee, it’s obvious that you must take the matter seriously or face the likelihood of expensive damages if you’re sued. But many harassment claims don’t follow this typical pattern.In one recent lawsuit, an employee charged he was harassed because of his disability. And in another, a male worker […]

Union Activity: NLRB Rules That Employee Was Unfairly Disciplined For Pro-Union Screen Saver; Don’t Target Union Messages

Whether employers like it or not, most employees use their office computers for a lot more than work—they send e-mail to friends, shop in online stores and personalize their computer screens with customized wallpaper and screen savers. It’s largely up to an employer to decide how much freedom to give employees in these areas. But […]

Legal, Yes, But Stupid

They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and that goes for many managers who think they know all about employment law. Unfortunately, there are a lot of actions that may be technically legal, but practically stupid. Here are some of management’s favorite legal but stupid actions: 1. Firing At-Will Employees for No Reason […]

Ruling Helps Alberta Employers Defend Preemployment Testing Challenges

by Michael Ford McCarthy Tetrault A long-awaited ruling of the Alberta Court of Appeal clears up some questions related to preemployment drug and alcohol testing related to safety-sensitive positions. The case – Chiasson v. Kellogg Brown & Root issued December 28, 2007 – involved an admitted casual user of marijuana being terminated from his employment […]

CMS Releases Healthcare Spending Projections from 2015-2025

By Jennifer Carsen, JD, Senior Legal Editor Total healthcare spending growth is expected to average 5.8% annually over 2015-2025, according to a report published on July 13 by Health Affairs and written by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Office of the Actuary (OACT). Projected national health spending growth remains lower than the […]

Don’t Let Technology Add Risks to Process of Screening Applicants

The practice of screening applicants through the internet – particularly by using Google and social networking sites – is becoming more and more commonplace. But employers need to understand there are times when they just shouldn’t look.

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The True State of the Gig Economy

Anyone who’s taken an Uber or Lyft recently and chatted with the driver about his or her experience with the service relative to his or her day job is probably well aware of the trend toward a gig economy. More and more people are supplementing full-time jobs with part-time work, working multiple part-time jobs or […]

CareerBuilder Looks at How Career Expectations Differ Between Generations

Are you more ambitious than a 12th grader? They may not be in the workforce as adults just yet, but as the next generation of workers, high school seniors have already formed solid opinions around life in the working world. A new CareerBuilder survey looks at how the next generation of workers compare to America’s […]