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A California court of appeals has ruled that an employee cannot recover punitive damages for the employer’s violations of state Labor Code provisions governing meal and rest breaks, pay stubs, and minimum wages.1 That’s because those Labor Code provisions include specific remedies, including penalties that are punitive in nature—and those are the only remedies available. […]
By Jane Meacham While acknowledging that maintaining traditional defined benefit (DB) pensions has become either too expensive or too burdensome, several Fortune 500 company retirement plan sponsors would like to replicate for their defined contribution (DC) plans some of the efficiencies from their DB plans, according to a new survey report from BNY Mellon.
By BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady HR people must understand what drives their company on a basic level before they can come up with an HR strategy that fits. In a survey we conducted nearly 15 years ago, HR managers identified “strategic HR” as a high-interest issue, so we did a book on the […]
A Christian liberal arts college lost a bid to secure a court ruling that would both characterize the health reform’s contraceptive mandate as improper and enjoin the government from enforcing it. It’s one of 26 challenges to the mandate that health plans cover contraceptives without patient cost-sharing. On Aug. 24, the U.S. District Court for […]
by Rosemary B. Guiltinan The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a jury verdict in favor of an Egyptian-American Muslim employee of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) who claimed the BSA denied him career advancement opportunities based on his national origin and religion. The court upheld the verdict because the employer failed […]
State and local governments spend billions of dollars annually on economic development subsidies given to companies for moving existing jobs from one state to another, according to a study released today by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center based in Washington, D.C. The report is titled The Job-Creation Shell Game. Greg LeRoy, executive […]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that employers can prohibit employees from using company e-mail to send union-related messages while allowing some personal use of e-mail. In a 3-2 decision dated December 16 but released December 21, the NLRB majority ruled that the e-mail policy of Eugene, Oregon, newspaper The Register-Guard wasn’t a […]
California employers have long faced complex discrimination issues because of the state’s diverse population. And now a recently enacted state law imposes new restrictions on employers’ ability to set workplace language rules. Language Restrictions Must Be Justified Under the new measure, A.B. 800, it’s illegal to adopt or enforce a policy that limits or prohibits […]
Yesterday we looked at some of the important changes in the new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations, particularly revisions to the employer and employee notice requirements. Today we’ll look at some other important changes, and at a new audio conference that will get you ready for the January 16 effective date. Certification Among […]
According to a new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, union membership in 2002 sank to its lowest level in 20 years. In 2002, 13.2% of workers were union members, down from 13.4% in 2001 and a high of 20.1% in 1983, the first year for which comparable data are available. More than 2.5 million […]