Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
A mediator charged with dividing up a $10 million settlement among 120 female sales representatives for drug maker Astra USA Inc. has come up with the novel approach of placing a dollar value on different types of sexual harassment. Fondling or requests for sex by high-level managers drew $250,000; frequent touching by low-level supervisors was […]
A wave of HIPAA privacy audits far more comprehensive than anything attempted to date was officially launched Nov. 8 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While their official purpose is not enforcement, these audits are likely to cast a broader net than HHS scrutiny has to date — including possibly group […]
Regulations implementing expansions to the Family and Medical Leave Act will be proposed Monday, the White House announced today. The 2009 legislative amendments added FMLA coverage for caregivers of wounded and ill service members and veterans. It also provided eligible employees the ability to take FMLA leave to tend to “qualifying exigencies” stemming from a […]
Beginning Jan. 1, 2001, you’re required to report independent contractor earnings information to the Employment Development Department. The new law is designed to track down parents who are delinquent in paying child support. Private and public employers need to report payments made to independent contractors if you expect to pay at least $600 to the […]
Allowing an employee to sit for half of her shift, thereby eliminating several job duties, is “per se” unreasonable, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has found. The case, EEOC v. Eckerd Corp. (d/b/a Rite Aid) (No. 1:10-CV-2816-JEC (N.D. Ga., July 9, 2012)), involved Fern Strickland, a drugstore cashier with osteoarthritis […]
According to a new Ninth Circuit ruling, a group of health care employees who worked more than 40 hours a week, with the time split between two employers, was eligible for overtime pay because the companies qualified as a single enterprise. The two companies, A-One Health Care and Alternative Rehabilitation, had substantially merged their operations […]
When Pacific Bell service technician Clarence Allen became disabled, his doctor told the company the disability prevented Allen from performing anything other than sedentary work. Allen then asked Pacific Bell to accommodate his disability by allowing him to return to his service technician position without requiring him to climb poles and ladders. Requested Accommodation Denied […]
By Gwen Cofield Governmental employers and the benefit plans they sponsor are generally exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) provisions but are still required to offer COBRA coverage to qualified beneficiaries under the Public Health Service Act (PHSA).
by Kevin C. McCormick Maryland’s new Parental Leave Act (PLA), which grants unpaid parental leave benefits to employees working for some employers too small to be eligible for leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), will take effect October 1. The PLA requires employers with 15 to 49 employees to provide unpaid […]