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Help, They Made Me a Supervisor—Part 2—What to Do

Help, no kidding. New supervisors are in for a great ride, but if you don’t train them well—and fast—they’re going to crash and burn. Here are tips and news about a new audio conference especially for new supervisors. Last issue we posed 9 problem areas for new supervisors and promised that today, we’d offer some […]

Obama Inauguration Gives Hope to Diversity Exec

When Patrice Hall sat in Denver’s Mile High Stadium listening to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last August, she had never felt so inspired and hopeful. After almost two decades in line management, Hall has spent the last 13 years as a diversity executive, most recently as head of the […]

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.

Appealing Employment Tribunal Decisions May Be Easier

McCarthy Tetrault A recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada may make it easier for employees and employers to appeal decisions of administrative agencies to the courts. In Canada, and from an HR perspective, such agencies include labor boards, labor arbitrators, human rights tribunals, pay equity tribunals, and employment standards adjudicators. Imagine an employee […]

COVID-19

Small Tip Pool Violation Creates Big Headache for Employer

A recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) settlement serves as a reminder for employers with tipped employees: you cannot require workers to share tips with nontipped staff. Doing so can leave an employer liable not only for the misappropriated tips, but also—because of a provision in the law—for back minimum wage and overtime payments that […]

News Notes: September 2004

New Paid Family Leave Regulations Released As most California employers know, the new Paid Family Leave (PFL) law kicked into action this summer, providing partial wage-replacement benefits for workers who take time off to care for a seriously ill family member or bond with a new child. At the same time, the state Employment Development […]

Employment Law Tip: Keeping the Focus During the Holidays

According to the results of a new poll by Accountemps, most employees get distracted and are less productive during the holiday season. The poll included responses from HR, finance, and marketing executives at the country’s 1,000 largest companies. Forty-four percent of executives polled said their employees are less productive the week before a major holiday, […]

South Dakota Voters Just Say No to Medical Marijuana

By Jane Pfeifle Though a similar measure was narrowly defeated in 2006, this year South Dakota resoundingly rejected Initiative 13, which called for the legalization of medical marijuana. As a result employers can breathe a sigh of relief because the measure raised numerous questions about how they might be called on to respond to employees […]

Recognition: The Secret to Retaining Top Employees

How much does employee turnover cost American business each year? According to the DOL, about $5 trillion, says Mike Byam, author of The WOW! Workplace. Fortunately, he adds, effective recognition strategies can help keep turnover at bay. Byam, who is managing partner at the employee recognition firm The Terryberry Company, offers eight keys to successful […]

Post Furlough Tips for Employers: Be Prepared for FLSA Enforcement to Resume

The federal government resumed operations this week. As the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division gets up and running, operations to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act are likely to resume quickly. Smart employers should brush up on DOL enforcement basics so they’re prepared. DOL is authorized by the FLSA to investigate and […]