Workers’ Comp: New Notices Required
Late last year, the California Division of Workers’ Compensation finalized its amendments to regulations on medical provider networks (MPNs) and the information employers must provide employees.
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New Wyoming law will help employers protect their computer systems
by Bradley T. Cave A Wyoming law going into effect on July 1 creates a new criminal offense—computer trespassing—that may give employers a new tool to prevent employee sabotage. Computer trespassing occurs when a person knowingly and without authorization sends malware, data, or a program that (1) alters or damages a computer, system, or network […]
Same-gender Marriage Debate Continues in the States
Employers still have to contend with plenty of uncertainty regarding employees’ same-gender spouses, regardless of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Windsor (No. 12-307, June 26, 2013). That decision may have declared Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, but it was a narrow ruling that left divergent state laws […]
You’re the Expert: Holiday Party Themes
In every issue, we take one reader’s question and ask our other readers to weigh in. Here’s what you had to say about a recent question:
News Notes: Employers Not Strictly Liable For Supervisor Sexual Harassment
When Leslie Kohler sued under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act claiming that her supervisor at Inter-Tel Technologies sexually harassed her, Inter-Tel said it wasn’t liable because it had taken reasonable steps to prevent harassment and Kohler had unreasonably failed to take advantage of the employer’s corrective opportunities by failing to report the incidents. Kohler […]
News Notes: Employment Contracts Can Shorten Time to Sue
Provisions in an employment contract between Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. and its sales agents stated that agents had only six months from the date of discharge to file a lawsuit for wrongful termination, even though California law may provide up to four years to sue for breach of contract. The employment agreement also […]
Do Aggressive Decisions Save Money?
Many employers are now making the unhappy discovery that their finance and operations people made aggressive exempt-status and other wage and hour-related determinations that are coming back to haunt their organizations in the form of big wage and hour lawsuits and payouts. Attorney Kurt A. Franklin of the San Francisco office of Hanson Bridgett, LLP, […]
HHS to Step Up HIPAA Privacy Enforcement in ‘Abject Failure’ Cases
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is refocusing its HIPAA privacy enforcement efforts on seeking monetary penalties in cases of “abject failure” to comply, the head of HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) indicated. “The majority of matters we handle are going to be resolved through education” as they have in the […]
Transit Parity Back on the Slate in Congress
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have put transit parity — that is, the equalization of mass transit and qualified parking benefits under tax Code Section 132 — back in play, after watching it fail earlier in the session. The legislation would extend a temporary parity provision that expired Dec. 31, 2011, for another two years. Sen. […]
How to Recruit, Hire, and Compensate Interns in 2019
According to information highlighted by SHRM, hiring interns goes back to the guilds of the Middle Ages, when apprenticeships were highly sought after and prestigious.