Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Last year, a computer hacker broke into the Rancho Cordova-based Stephen P. Teale Data Center, a California personnel database. The hacker gained access to the names, Social Security numbers, and payroll information of over 200,000 state government employees. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated occurrence—identity theft incidents are making the headlines almost daily.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., in a policy reversal, has agreed to exempt most companies and their pension plans from sweeping “reportable events” requirements first proposed in 2009. This news should be a relief for the many small or financially sound companies with defined benefit plans that had expressed concern about reporting relatively minor business […]
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) has several sets of first-aid standards, including detailed schemes for construction employers and similar, but less demanding, standards for most other businesses. Here’s an overview of what you need to know.
Carolyn Claxton was an office assistant for Pacific Maritime Corp. She filed workers’ comp claims against Pacific Maritime for a slip-and-fall injury and for an injury to her “psyche due to sexual harassment.” She then filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Pacific Maritime and manager Ray Waters.
Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code is undergoing its most significant changes in decades. The IRS has issued final regulations for retirement plans governed by Section 403(b) and maintained by nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations and public schools for their employees’ benefit. The plans may be funded through annuity contracts issued by an insurance company, […]
What once was acceptable workplace behavior and humor no longer is. And if some in your company don’t know it, there’s a world of Internet onlookers ready to tell them so. After a trying morning, Jack, usually a calm and restrained manager, lost it at the office. He screamed at his workers, and threw a […]
When considering employment law compliance, employers must look not only to federal and state laws but, increasingly, they need to look to city and county laws, according to attorney Kara Shea, who led a session at the October Advanced Employment Issues Symposium (AEIS) in Nashville, Tennessee. Shea, a member at Miller & Martin PLLC in […]
McCarthy Tetrault A “blog,” short for web log, is akin to an online diary or an electronic discussion board that often includes a mix of commentary and opinions from visitors to the website. More and more employers are dealing with employees who may be blogging about their work. Here are some questions you should consider. […]
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has issued a new section in its compliance manual on religious discrimination in the workplace. The agency concluded that the sharp rise in the number of religious discrimination charges, the growing religious diversity in the United States, and requests for guidance from stakeholders warranted the new compliance manual section. […]
A California appeals court has ruled that an employee who claimed he was the victim of workplace bias and violence can sue his employer under California Civil Code sections 51.7 (the Ralph Civil Rights Act) and 52.1 (Bane Civil Rights Act), which provide individual protections against discriminatory violence and denial of civil rights by means […]