Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Update: New FMLA regs issued by DOL on November 14, 2008 When Congress amended the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to grant additional leave entitlements to certain employees with family members in the military, its heart was in the right place. After all, who can argue against that type of leave? Unfortunately 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 […]
Often, the first document a new employee reads is the company handbook. A handbook serves many purposes, among them introducing the employer’s culture, communicating important policies, and setting employee expectations. If approached thoughtfully, a handbook is also a key tool for minimizing exposure to litigation.
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Based on the recent HR Technology Conference and Exposition our CEO attended, it’s clear vendors think they know what HR needs: Talent Suites. Talent suites (at least theoretically) are integrated applications for things like sourcing and recruiting, performance management, succession planning, and compensation. They pick up where administrative […]
By H. Mark Adams and B. Trevor Wilson Employers now have a powerful new incentive for hiring recently discharged and other unemployed veterans. Under the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, enacted by Congress this past November, employers may receive significant income work opportunity tax credits for hiring unemployed veterans, including: […]
Two new California state laws, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown Oct. 9, raise the stakes for companies that violate the state’s wage and hour laws. Assembly Bill No. 459, among the latest move by feds and the states to crack down on independent contractor abuse, prohibits willful misclassification of employees as independent contractors. The law […]
When the U.S. Department of Labor issued an opinion two years ago suggesting that absences due to the common cold or flu could sometimes qualify as family leave, it was greeted with consternation by many employers. Now, in a new decision, a California appellate court has overturned a $118,000 verdict in favor of a worker […]
The U.S. Department of Labor laid the groundwork for states to run ERISA-covered auto-enrollment individual retirement accounts and multi-employer retirement plans for people without workplace savings options, issuing proposed rules and an interpretive bulletin for that purpose. The so-called open MEPs give employers that don’t want to offer their own 401(k) plan a way to join with other companies […]
California attorneys have to make a living, says Christopher C. Hoffman, and they’re doing it by suing. They’re getting more creative and more aggressive, even in areas like wage and hour.
By Kate McGovern Tornone, Editor Many employers are not prepared for new overtime regulations that take effect later this year, according to a recent report.