Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Keri Bennett In Canada, courts can award two extraordinary forms of damages in a wrongful dismissal action: aggravated damages or punitive damages. In a wrongful dismissal action, employees who are terminated for cause often claim that they should be awarded aggravated and/or punitive damages in addition to reasonable notice damages. In a recent decision […]
The Self-Insurance Institute of America has lost a round in its battle against a state-imposed tax on ERISA health plans. In a new ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that Michigan’s health care claims tax withstood SIIA’s preemption arguments, because the law doesn’t interfere with the parts of plan administration reserved exclusively […]
by Hannah Roskey The Alberta Court of Appeal recently released its decision in Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corporation, a must-read for Canadian employers dealing with employee addiction issues. In lengthy reasons, a majority of the court agreed that there was no discrimination when an employee under the influence of cocaine was fired following a […]
The long-awaited regulations implementing the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order—often called the “blacklisting” rule—were made final on August 24, even though change may be on the way as a result of litigation and legislation. The final rule, announced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, will take […]
Yesterday, we shared attorney David Fortney’s insights on OFCCP’s new affirmative action regulations. Today, more on what you need to know about the “new” OFCCP.
High-quality talent is hard to come by and even harder to keep. With low unemployment and a generation of reliable, experienced workers pondering retirement, competition for talented employees has become the stuff of sleepless nights for chief human research officers, hiring managers, and recruiters.
While the lack of a specific rule doesn’t mean you can’t discipline an employee for misconduct, the existence of a rule or standard can make your life a lot easier.
Last week, we discussed four employment law issues state legislatures will be grappling with in 2009 — layoff notification laws, immigration, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and it’s state equivalents, and unemployment benefits. This week, we’ll discuss four more – family and medical leave, workplace discrimination, minimum wage, and occupational safety. As with last […]
Imaging you run a health plan and you’re responsible for preventing overpayments for ineligible beneficiaries. Dependent audits sound like a good idea, but when and how do you do them? Do you think it is better to do a proactive dependent audit to catch improper free riders before they incur big charges or would you […]
by Brad Federman Typically, an organization employs inclusion efforts because it notices there’s a morale issue within a certain group or within the organization as a whole, a legal challenge has been filed against the organization, or there has been an effort to organize a union. Unfortunately, many inclusion or diversity efforts fail because they […]