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The Electronic Time Bomb on Your Desk

by Albert L. Vreeland Recently, your job as Shepherd of All Things Employment became a lot more complicated (and legally risky) — for reasons you may not even be aware of. On December 1, 2006, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to include specific provisions for handling electronically stored information. That may sound […]

Employer Liable for Commuter’s Car Accident, Court Rules

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 […]

Right-to-work bill on the march in Wisconsin

by Tammy Binford Wisconsin is on its way to becoming a right-to-work state. A right-to-work bill passed the state senate on February 25 and is expected to pass the assembly after that body takes it up on March 5. Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign the bill as soon as it passes. The bill […]

Health Coverage Premium Subsidies Need Boost, Says White House

Premium subsidies for health insurance coverage under the Health Care Tax Credit (HCTC) program may get a boost due to an agreement being negotiated between the White House and Congress. The HCTC program was enacted as part of the Trade Act of 2002. As originally enacted, it provided a 65-percent tax credit for qualifying health […]

Hot List: BusinessWeek’s Bestseller List

BusinessWeek magazine ranks the 15 best selling hardcover and paperback business books for June 2009 and  gives a short summary. 1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. As you’d expect with Gladwell, there are lots of surprises in his explanation of why some people succeed fantastically. Pluck and smarts get less play here […]

Financially stressed employees pulling down productivity

By Tammy Binford A new employee group has begun showing up vividly on employer radar screens. It’s not defined by race, religion, gender, or any of the other familiar legally protected classes. The new group commanding the attention of employers is made up of workers suffering extreme stress brought on by extreme debt. It’s always […]

State-to-State Conflicts in Employment Law

by Mark I. Schickman The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) lists as one of its purposes the creation of a uniform national labor policy. That might have been the thought nearly 80 years ago when the NLRA was enacted, but it is the furthest thing from the truth today — as state-to-state conflicts in employment […]

Family and Medical Leave: Accompanying Ill Spouse to Funeral Doesn’t Qualify for Protected Leave, Court Rules

Arnulfo Gradilla worked as a sheet metal assembler at Riverside County-based Ruskin Manufacturing. When his father-in-law died, he received permission to take two or three days off work to accompany his invalid wife to the funeral in Mexico. Gradilla’s wife had a serious heart condition that was exacerbated by stress.