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Exempt vs. Non-Exempt: California Supreme Court Verdict on Overtime

In a long-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court has unanimously held that California-based employers must pay overtime to certain nonresident employees who spend time working full days or weeks in the state – and that the failure to do so can provide the basis for a claim under the state unfair competition law (Sullivan v. […]

The Heath Care Reform Summit and the Future of Reform

Days after President Barack Obama released his own health care reform proposal, he presided over a health care reform summit on Thursday that both Democrats and Republicans attended. The summit was supposed to help the parties find common ground on the issue of health care reform and allow them to discuss their views. Although the […]

It Can Pay to Challenge Assumptions

By J. Robert Brame Social critics routinely criticize Western culture as being racist, sexist, xenophobic, and more recently, ageist and “lookist,” the latter being the widely asserted preference within our society for the more attractive over the less attractive, especially regarding women. Some of these “problems,” including racism, xenophobia, and ageism, have been enshrined in […]

New Bill Would Require DOL to Follow its Own Rules

A newly introduced bill would require the U.S. Department of Labor to follow a rule it wants to impose on federal contractors. DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is in the final stages of a rulemaking that would require federal contractors to aim to have workers with disabilities make up 7 percent of their […]

Hot List: New York Times Bestselling Paperback Business Books

The following is a list of the bestselling paperback business books as ranked by the New York Times on November 9. 1. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. A maverick scholar and a journalist apply economic theory to everything from cheating sumo […]

How to Beat Rising Quit Rates

The growing economy and low unemployment rate have created an unfortunate side effect for many organizations—increasing employee turnover. In July, 3.58 million Americans quit their jobs, the largest percentage in 17 years, according to Labor Department data. The proportion of workers quitting their jobs, known as the quit rate, reached 2.4%. 

More penalties under ACA? The cost of failure to file went up

by Jamie Brabston As employers prepare to comply with the upcoming information-reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which remain in place after the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell, Congress snuck higher penalties for failing to meet those requirements into a trade bill. House Resolution (HR) 1295, known as the Trade Preferences […]

Healthcare Savings? Try Absence Management

Ah, healthcare costs. If you’ve changed carriers, deductibles, and co-payments more times than you care to remember, you may be discouraged. Take heart, says Jill Madison, there’s a better place to look for savings. Madison is managing director of Consulting Services at Craford Benefit Consultants. Her comments appeared in a white paper on BLR’s all-things-compensation […]

News Notes: Employer Cited For Ineffective Workplace Violence Program

Xerox Corp. has been cited by the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division for not developing an effective workplace violence prevention program that might have averted a mass shooting by a copy machine repairman that left seven co-workers dead. The agency charged that Xerox failed to train managers to recognize and reduce potential hazards as […]