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News Notes: Microsoft Loses Independent Contractor Class Action Lawsuit

Reaffirming its decision from last fall, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal covering California has ruled that employees who were misclassified as independent contractors by Microsoft are eligible to participate retroactively in the company’s lucrative stock purchase program and possibly its pension plan as well. Part of Microsoft’s problem was that its forms and […]

What Your Colleagues Think About Safety and Health Training

Here’s what your colleagues think about safety and health training: How effective is your safety training? 61%    Somewhat effective 29%    Very effective 10%    Not very effective at all How much of your training sessions involve hands on participation? 50%    Less than half of it 18%    All of it 18%    None of it 14%    More than […]

Oklahoma Immigration Law Passes Test

Oklahoma’s immigration law, House Bill 1804, contains a number of employment provisions, including limitations on terminating employees while knowingly retaining unauthorized workers and requiring verification of employees’ legal work status. On February 11, 2009, Tulsa District Court Judge Jefferson D. Sellers ruled that the immigration law’s employment provisions don’t violate the Oklahoma Constitution. Oklahoma employers […]

Opportunity for Employers to Give DOL Feedback on Provider Fee Disclosure

More than two years into the regulation’s implementation, the U.S. Department of Labor wants industry and plan sponsor comment on its regulation that requires retirement plan service providers to disclose fee information to fiduciaries. ERISA Section 408(b)(2) requires covered service providers to give fiduciaries information they need to assess the “reasonableness” of the administrators’ total compensation, […]

Romney: Dodd-Frank Act a ‘Boon’ to Big Banks

Retirement plans’ fortunes are tied to the financial markets — and how the federal government regulates them — and there has been no bigger development in that arena than the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010. The law made news Oct. 3, when presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized Dodd-Frank’s “too big to fail” provision, […]

Ho Ho Ho…liday Lawsuit? 3 Tips To Protect Yourself

In a recent article for our premium service, California Employer Advisor, we offered 11 tips for employers to limit liability when hosting a company holiday party. In this post, we offer you 3 of those tips to keep your event sane and safe and liability-free.

Employee Leaves: What Should I Do When Managers Don’t Want to Reinstate Employees Who Went Out on FMLA/CFRA Leave?

We’re having problems with people coming back from FMLA/CFRA leave. Two particular situations worry us. In one case, the manager says, “I’ve redistributed the work and there’s no job anymore.” And in the other, the manager says, “We’ve hired a temp who is much better—we don’t want the person back.” Don’t we still have to […]

Quebec Employer Not Entitled to Review Employee’s Email to Union

By Antoine Aylwin A month ago, we reported on the Ontario Court of Appeal’s surprising decision in R. v. Cole.  In that decision the Court of Appeal said that a high school teacher was protected against searches on his work computer by the police absent a search warrant. The Court of Appeal based its decision […]

Does Your Website Engage or Enrage Potential Candidates?

In yesterday’s Advisor, we offered Gerry Crispin’s examples of great recruiting websites. Today, Crispin evaluates the visitor’s experience on your recruiting website, and we look at a program for dealing with the most basic recruiting tool of all, the essential job description. For a good example of a company that is getting its branding and […]