Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
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 […]
Employers with nonunionized workforces once went about their business without giving much thought to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). But with union membership in decline, a more activist Board is branching out, and now even nonunion employers need to be on guard. As union membership dwindles, the NLRB is emphasizing that the National Labor […]
Continuing the recently established practice of issuing broadly applicable “Administrator Interpretations” in lieu of wage and hour opinion letters, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink has released the second Administrator Interpretation of 2010. The interpretation, issued June 16, clarifies the definition of “clothes” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), addressing some […]
When an employee initiates a complaint to HR of unfair treatment or sexual harassment, the best thing to do is to move immediately to start an investigation. Choose an objective, outside investigator, attorney, or HR professional to conduct the investigation. Prepare a summary statement of the complaint that the interviewee agrees with and signs. Interview […]
Final mental health parity rules issued Nov. 8 make several changes to the prior, interim version. The exemption for “clinically appropriate standards of care” was eliminated because regulators decided it was confusing and subject to abuse, and the rules’ application to “intermediate” coverage levels was clarified in response to uncertainty about how the interim rules’ […]
On October 23, 2009, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law poster, which includes information on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The poster was updated to include information about GINA, specifically that employers are prohibited from discriminating against applicants and employees on the basis of […]
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that an insurance certificate was an official plan document that overrode the plan’s summary plan description. It shows that plans are vulnerable when they attempt to set out plan terms in the SPD only without corresponding language in the official plan document. For stronger plan design, the […]
The U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court today in a 68-31 vote. As expected, the Senators voted along party lines, with all Senate Democrats and only nine Republicans voting to confirm President Barack Obama’s nominee. The final step in Sotomayor’s road to the Supreme Court will be a White House […]
Rob from the poor and give to the rich, says consultant Joseph DiMisa. That’s how to use limited Pat Shiu, director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), opened the recent Equal Pay Chat by saying that “… we can and must do more—from updating our regulations and collecting better data to working […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR’s founder ponders whether workers can really give full attention to their jobs when they are listening to talk radio or music. The iPod has changed my life. Well, maybe that’s overstating it, but it is certainly one of the best toys of recent years. For example, regular […]