Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
For the coming year, the financial risks of class action litigation are “enormous,” says attorney J. Stephen Poor, and more often than not, class actions adversely affect your market share and impact your reputation in the marketplace as well. Poor, who is the Managing Partner of law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP, made his remarks in […]
Recent changes to affirmative action program rules permit government contractors to organize plans based around their functional or business units, rather than based solely on an establishment’s location. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has now issued guidelines for contractor requests to submit a “functional” affirmative action plan, or FAAP, including whether the functional […]
If you’ve read many (any?) of my writings, you may have gathered that I’m a sports fan and often use sports-related stories to make a point. This week is no different. Earlier this NFL season, I, like many football fans, suffered through the debacle that was the replacement referees. I’m sure you recall those ill-prepared […]
The cover story in the March issue of California Employer Advisor highlights several important provisions of the new Interim Wage Order, which took effect March 1. Now the Industrial Welfare Commission has announced that it will hold a hearing to discuss proposed changes to the wage order. The hearing will take place in Sacramento on March 31. Some […]
by Charles S. Plumb The last several months have witnessed a flurry of court activity regarding same-sex marriage laws. On Tuesday, January 14, Oklahoma joined that activity with an order and opinion issued by Tulsa’s federal court. In 2004, Oklahoma voters approved an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution defining “marriage” to be exclusively a union […]
A federal judge has ordered Southern California Maid Services and Carpet Cleaning, based in Gardena, to pay $3,467,789 in back wages, plus $1,058,973 in liquidated damages, to 385 current and former low-wage domestic workers who were misclassified as independent contractors. The court’s action resolves a lawsuit filed against the employer by the U.S. Department of […]
Our firm has many employees whose spouses are in the military, so we’re gearing up to deal with the new law. While trying to set up our policies, we’ve come across some questions that don’t seem to be answered in the materials we have received. Do we have to let the employees take leave on […]
We reported in April on a federal court decision from Kentucky involving IBM which held that under federal law, if you’re seriously considering changes to a retirement benefit plan, you must tell your employees. Now, in a pair of new cases, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has reached the same conclusion, explaining that […]
Caribou Coffee, a Minnesota-based coffee shop chain, has been slapped with a class action lawsuit charging that the company violated state labor laws, similar to California’s, that bar management from sharing in customer tips left for employees. The lawsuit was filed close on the heels of a California court’s ruling in March 2008 that Starbucks […]
The U.S. Department of Labor on July 22 announced temporary relief for retirement plan administrators from some participant fee disclosure deadlines approaching in August. In Field Assistance Bulletin 2013-02, DOL said it would allow a one-time “reset” of the requirement that administrators “at least annually” provide to participants detailed comparative charts of plan investment options. […]