Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Tammy Binford With the U.S. Supreme Court deciding not to take up a case to settle the same-sex marriage issue on the national level, employers need to understand how the Court’s decision affects their policies. As it opened its new term on October 6, the Supreme Court declined to review one of seven cases […]
California’s innovative Paid Family Leave (PFL) law – the only one in the nation – is now two years old. The program provides most employees with up to six weeks of partial pay when taking leave from work to bond with a new baby or foster or adopted child, or to care for a seriously […]
Earlier this week, we reported that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has proposed amended rules that would streamline the union election process, making it easier for employees to unionize. The regulations, which appeared in Wednesday’s Federal Register, firmly divide the pro- and antiunion factions, being lauded by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka as “a commonsense […]
We know that we’re supposed to make a “genuine” offer of employment before we require medical tests and so on. But what do we do when we are waiting for one more reference to come back or the results of a background check? (We can do the background check before the offer, right?) Do we […]
By Kelly Smith-Haley, JD, Fox, Swibel, Levin & Carroll, LLP A recent case from a federal court judge in Chicago provides a useful overview of certain statutes that rarely make headlines but nevertheless set the bar for nursing mothers. So dust off the breast pump, spruce up the office lactation room, and settle in for […]
by Sophie E. Zdatny House Bill 99, titled “an act relating to equal pay,” has cleared both chambers of the Vermont Legislature and is set to be signed into law by Governor Peter Shumlin on Tuesday, May 14. The final bill amends Vermont’s Fair Employment Practices Act to provide that an employer may pay different […]
Employers and plan administrators will be better able to administer plan loans and meet the prohibited transaction exemption, since the IRS has given them a clearer picture of what constitutes a “reasonable rate of interest.” The IRS has provided this assistance in guidance it published in the Winter 2012 edition of its “Retirement News for […]
The federal appeals court covering California ruled several years ago that software giant Microsoft Corp. had to pay certain retroactive employee benefits to workers improperly classified as independent contractors. Now, the same court has made clear that its earlier ruling will require Microsoft to provide millions of dollars in stock-purchase rights not only to contractors, […]
The human resources staff may not be able to pull off a Miracle on 34th Street, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make life better at work. In fact, HR professionals looking for holiday “gifts” for employees have an array of options. While they may not rival the hottest gifts of the season, a few […]
If an employee injures third parties while working, his or her employer can be held liable for those injuries. Normally, an employee’s regular commute to and from work is not considered to be “working” time, so employers aren’t responsible for accidents that happen then. A California court, however, recently held that an employee who is […]