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Job Descriptions: 3 Common Mistakes–and a Tool for Avoiding Them

If anyone questions your layoff selections—and they will—employees’ attorneys are going to scrutinize the job descriptions on which you based your determinations. What will they find? A full set of up-to-date, accurate, and complete job descriptions, right? Well, maybe not a full set—and maybe not all accurate and complete and up to date, either. Here […]

Time to Bring Out the Sled Dogs!

by Stephen Acker and Leanne Fioravanti More exotic modes of transport may need to be explored as Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, struggles with relentless snow storms and a highly controversial bus strike. Unfortunately there is no end in sight as the OC Transpo transit strike enters its second month in mid-January. This transit strike demonstrates: […]

ERISA Advisory Council to Craft Model Notices for Pension Risk Transfers

The 2015 ERISA Advisory Council plans to build on a 2013 effort by devising new draft model notices and disclosures for lump-sum pension distribution offerings to participants and retirees. Instances of pension risk transfer — often referred to as “derisking,” from the plan sponsor’s point of view — are on the rise among single-employer defined […]

Disciplinary Meetings: New Ruling Sheds Light on When Employees Are Entitled to Union Representation

A union worker is about to be called into a monthly performance meeting. He asks if he needs union representation, and you say no. Then, because of something that occurs during the meeting, you terminate him. Were you wrong not to put off the meeting until he had representation? We’ll review a recent National Labor […]

Indiana employers need to be ready for religious freedom law

by Angela Johnson and Martha Lemert The new Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (IRFRA) is set to take effect July 1 after being signed into law in March and then amended in April because of objections that the statute would be used to discriminate, particularly on the basis of sexual orientation. In its amended form, […]

15-Year Sexual Harassment Report Card Brings Good News and Bad News for Employers

Lawsuits are down, but judgments are up, and training remains the answer October 2006 marks 15 years since the term “sexual harassment” entered the American lexicon in a big way. Americans came to know it through the testimony of Anita Hill, as she complained about alleged unwelcome advances from her ex-boss, now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence […]

What employers need to know about immigration reform

by Christine D. Mehfoud Turn on the news. Open the paper. Click on cnn.com. For months, if not years, immigration has been one of the top stories. Specifically, immigration reform: Will immigration reform happen? When will it happen? And what will it look like if it does happen? As the 2014 midterm elections draw closer, […]

News Notes: Employee Who Revealed Trade Secrets Barred From Working In Field

In a new approach to dealing with leaks of trade secrets, a court barred a high-tech employee from performing any work in his field for two years after he allegedly disclosed confidential documents to a competitor during a job interview. The case involved David Allouche, who worked for National Semiconductor Corporation in Silicon Valley. Allouche […]