Most Popular

New Requirements Without Regs and Regs Without Requirements

As if it weren’t enough of a hassle, FLMA’s just gotten messier. The feds have added “servicemember family” leave—but without the regulations needed to administer it—and “qualifying exigency” leave—not required but “encouraged.” Here’s what you need to know. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), already HR’s least favorite law, has just gotten more so. […]

Workers’ Compensation: Lawsuit Against Tosco Tries End Run Around Workers’ Comp Limits

A Tosco worker injured in a catastrophic 1999 explosion and fire at the company’s Martinez refinery and the family of another worker killed in the disaster have filed a lawsuit against Tosco. Employees who are injured on the job are generally limited to workers’ comp benefits. But this lawsuit attempts to sidestep this restriction by […]

An HR Bonus for Each Dropped EEOC Charge?

In yesterday’s CED, Hunter Lott of Please Sue Me fame offered his lawsuit avoidance tips. Today, his advice on legal exposure in 2011, plus an introduction to an upcoming event you won’t want to miss.   What percent of charges did the EEOC drop last year? Lott asks. More than 64 percent. “That’s us!” Lott […]

Ninth Circuit Continues Benefits for Same-Sex Partners of State Employees

By Dinita L. James In the case of Collins v. Brewer, a federal judge from Alaska, deciding a case from Arizona, barred the state’s attempt to do away with benefits for same-sex domestic partners of state employees. Earlier this year, there was an argument on the case before a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. […]

Getting Started with Succession Planning

Question and answer session with Hal Adler Q: Why is succession planning so important in a tough economy? Hal: Look at it this way. We’ve seen dramatic rebounds in the stock market. This thing could turn around as fast as it got here, but regardless of how long it takes, employers don’t want to be […]

Investment Fee Disclosures Leave Most Participants Unmoved

A “snapshot” survey conducted in October found the start of disclosure of fees from retirement plan service providers spurred little change in the behavior of either plan participants or sponsors. A total of 176 defined contribution plan sponsors responded to the Plan Sponsor Council of America’s survey, launched a few weeks after sponsors began disclosing […]

Hot List: New York Times Bestselling Hardcover Business Books

The following is a list of the bestselling hardcover business books as ranked by the New York Times with data from Nielsen BookScan on July 18. 1. Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. This account of the Wall Street implosion highlights individuals who […]

Congress Expands FMLA’s Military Family Leave Provisions

Congress has moved with surprising speed in passing legislation to expand the situations in which an employee may take military caregiver leave and qualifying exigency leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The “Supporting Military Families Act of 2009” was only introduced in the House and Senate in late July. Now it has […]

Construction association sues to stop OFCCP’s new affirmative action rule

On November 19, 2013, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a national association for the construction industry, filed a request for an injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) final rule affecting federal government contractors, including construction contractors. […]

Hit and Run

I ran across a number of things this week that I thought were worthy of comment.  Instead of choosing one, I thought I would try to get them all in. In the “It’s About Time” category, the board of BP negotiated the departure of Tony Hayward as CEO of the oil company and replaced him […]