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When Safety Lands on HR’s Desk

Is safety part of your portfolio yet? In more and more organizations, HR is taking over safety management. Fortunately, HR managers make great safety managers! In fact (don’t tell the safety people), they often do a better job than technical safety experts do. Why are HR managers so good at safety? Technical safety expertise is […]

Your E-Mail, in Court, the Size of New Jersey

One great way to understand the importance of a casually written   e-mail is to think about how the jury will see it, says attorney Allison West. “In court, it will be blown up to the size of New Jersey,” she says. Yesterday’s Advisor presented West’s tips for bulletproof documentation; today we’ll look at more of […]

Employer’s FMLA Notice Requirements Leave Little Room for Guesswork

While HR professionals may sometimes struggle with the murky areas of employment law, in a leave of absence situation, there should be no mistaking some of the more immediate obligations under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Within five business days of receiving a request for leave, for example, you must provide three types of […]

E-Alerts: Wage and Hour: Minimum Wage Increase Petition Under Consideration; New Wage Order Guide Available Online

Last month, the Industrial Welfare Commission rejected a labor-backed petition to increase the state minimum wage, currently at $6.75 per hour. The California Labor Federation reintroduced the petition for IWC consideration at a February 21, 2003 public meeting. But the IWC has once again rejected the petition.

Catch-up 401(k) Contributions Didn’t Increase Savings Rate Much

The participants 50 or older who have taken advantage of contributing much more of their salary to 401(k) retirement plans through catch-up provisions already were among the highest savers — and so few workers overall are constrained by the annual IRS limits that catch-up contributions aren’t a solution for  low retirement savings rates. Those conclusions […]

New York Times: Hardcover Business Bestsellers

The following is a list of the bestselling hardcover business books as ranked by the New York Times on February 5. 1. Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad for Life by James J. Cramer with Cliff Mason. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) The host of “Mad Money” on CNBC explains how to get rich and stay rich. 2. […]

News Notes: OFCCP’s Revised Affirmative Action Rules Take Effect

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has issued new affirmative action regulations for federal contractors, the first major overhaul of the program in 30 years. The new rules, which took effect Dec. 13, 2000, simplify some affirmative action plan requirements. But they also mandate that every other year all nonconstruction employers fill out an […]

Accommodating Disabilities: Employer Hit With Punitive Damages For Firing Supervisor Who Accommodated Epileptic Employee

Kevin Terry, a customer service representative at a Time Warner Entertainment Company office in Fayetteville, Ark., suffered from nocturnal epileptic seizures. His supervisor, Jane Foster, accommodated his condition by allowing him to arrive after the usual starting time and stay later in the evening to make up the missed time. But when angry co-workers complained […]

High Court Sends Birth Control Cases Back to Circuits

Rather than resolve a dispute over the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, the U.S. Supreme Court on May 16 remanded the cases to appeals courts without ruling on the plaintiffs’ religious freedom arguments. The decision to remand seems due to Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, which left the court in a 4-4 conservative/liberal deadlock; leading observers […]