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Brinker and Brinkley: The Saga Continues

In the January issue of California Employer Advisor, we reported on Brinkley v. Public Storage, Inc., which held that employers are required merely to provide employees with meal and rest periods, not ensure that employees actually take them (CEA online subscribers can read more on the case here).

Computers: Ninth Circuit Reconsiders Computer Privacy Ruling; the Importance of Having a Monitoring Policy

Last year, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, ruled that employees cannot expect privacy when using workplace computers if their employer has an electronic monitoring policy in place. But now, the Ninth Circuit has revisited that ruling—this time finding that the employee indeed had an expectation of privacy for the computer […]

September 15 — October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month 2010

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, President Lyndon B. Johnson was authorized by Congress to declare National Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968. In 1988, Congress expanded the celebration, and September 15 was chosen as the beginning of the  monthlong event because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El […]

Majority of Fortune 100 Companies Offer Only DC Plans to New Hires

The latest annual survey of Fortune 100 companies’ retirement plan types confirms the familiar shift to defined contribution plans by most of the largest U.S. firms. As of 2012, 70 of the Fortune 100 companies offered only DC plans to new, salaried employees. Just 11 still offer a traditional defined benefit pension plan to new […]

Federal Contractors Beware: Employees Can Sue For Additional Wages in California

Federal Contractors Beware: Employees Can Sue For Additional Wages in California If you’ve ever contracted to do work for a federal agency, then you’re probably intimately familiar with the federal Service Contract Act of 1965 (SCA)—which spells out what employers working on federal contracts have to pay their employees. Now a California Court of Appeal […]

Wellness Incentives—Are You Following the Feds’ Tricky Rules?

In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at DOL’s checklist for wellness program compliance. Today, the “paragraph (f)” criteria, plus an introduction to the wellness program guide that boosts the ROI of your program. If you want to institute a wellness program that discriminates based on a health factor (for example, rewards people who have low cholesterol […]

‘Gun in the Lobby’ Sequel—Get Over Yourself!

By Stephen Bruce, Ph.D., Editor Just My E-pinion LOGO After we published our “Gun in the Lobby” story [go here for original story], we printed an apology to those who were upset by the story’s headline. [Go here to see our retraction.] But then even more readers wrote to complain about that. So, today, at […]

Michigan to vote on employment initiatives

Michigan voters will decide the fate of two initiatives in the November 6 election that can change the climate toward collective bargaining and union organization in the state. One initiative–Proposal 2, dubbed the “Protect our Jobs” proposal–is a union-backed measure asking voters to pass a constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers the right to bargain collectively. If […]

IRS Details Procedures for e-Filing Hardship Waivers

IRS on Sept. 14 released a new revenue procedure guide for retirement plan administrators seeking to avoid filing certain annual forms electronically, usually for economic hardship reasons. The changes are most likely to apply to small plans. In Revenue Procedure 2015-47, IRS provided some clarity on when some filers can continue using paper to submit […]