Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The Obama Administration has initiatives in worklife balance including flexible work arrangements (FWAs), says attorney David Fortney, but those making the proposals are often not cognizant of the true effect of their mandates. Fortney is a co-founder of law firm Fortney & Scott, LLC in Washington, DC, and is editor of the Federal Employment Law […]
A new lawsuit highlights the dilemma for employers when domestic violence spills over into the workplace. Tammie Heleniak claims she was fired from her temporary administrative assistant position at Hewlett Packard in Roseville after informing her supervisors that her estranged husband had threatened her. And now she’s filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Hewlett Packard […]
A recent development serves as an alert for all employers contemplating a large-scale lay-off without prior notice. The Connecticut Attorney General is suing Walker Digital, owned by Priceline founder Jay Walker, charging that the company violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) when it let 106 workers go without adequate notice in November. […]
Employer-sponsored health plans and insurers are required to make two changes to the summary of benefits and coverage, which must be distributed to all health plan participants under health reform. They must add statements of whether their coverage: (1) provides minimum essential coverage; and (2) meets the minimum value requirements. The specific language to be […]
A draft of the first major changes in 30 years in affirmative action regulations for federal contractors has been released. The long-awaited revisions would reduce the paperwork contractors must include in their affirmative action plans. But the rules would also require the completion of a time-consuming personnel survey.
No one can predict if so-called “bird flu” will spread to humans worldwide, but if it does, businesses need to be ready. Here are factors to consider in your planning. (First of two parts.) Good business practice means following the saying, “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.” These days, one of he […]
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has published a final rule clarifying the penalty that may be imposed on a plan administrator for failing to provide a written notice to participants and beneficiaries of their rights to diversify the portions of plan accounts that are invested in the employer’s publicly traded securities. […]
The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 vacated and remanded an appeals court ruling that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act does not require employers to accommodate pregnant employees. In Young v. UPS, the 4th Circuit held that UPS did not violate the PDA by limiting light-duty accommodations to employees: (1) injured on the job; (2) disabled as […]
Yesterday, we got some valuable workplace emergency preparedness tips courtesy of Randy DeVaul, safety expert and BLR webinar moderator. Today, a few more suggestions on inspections and training, as well as an introduction to a webinar that no well-prepared employer will want to miss.