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Governor Vetoes Employer-Unfriendly Employment Bills

This month, the real news is about what employment-related bills Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t sign. The most notable bill struck down by the Governor is S.B. 242, which would have made it unlawful for employers to discriminate against an employee based on the employee’s primary language, or to ban employees from speaking any language in […]

Wellness Programs Tackle Number 2 Killer

In yesterday’s Advisor, we learned how to knock out the largest source of deaths; today we’ll look at the #2 killer, cancer, and also the ADA issues that wellness programs raise. About a third of us get cancer and about 20 percent of us die of it, so in theory that makes cancer about half […]

HHS Kicks Off HITECH Privacy Audits

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 […]

Administration to Release Long-Awaited Family Leave Proposal Jan. 30

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 […]

Small Employer Plans More Likely to Change Course in Response to Health Reform

In response to health reform, some employers may stop offering health coverage and opt instead to pay a fine, give workers a raise and send them to state-run health insurance exchanges. Compensating for that , the individual mandate may drive about 4 million workers into employer plans, according to research from various sources compiled by […]

Electronic Security: iPods and Other Portable Devices Pose Serious Data Security Threat; Prevention Tips

iPods and similar portable media devices—such as iPhones, other cell phones, and USB flash drives—have become ubiquitous in our society. And concern is growing in the corporate world that because these devices can be used for much more than just listening to music, employees’ use of them in the workplace could pose a big threat […]

HOT LIST: New York Times Bestselling Business Books

The following is a list of the bestselling business books as ranked by the New York Times on April 28. 1 Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny, by Suze Orman. How women can achieve financial security. 2 Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, by Dan Ariely. An M.I.T. […]

News Flash: Sexual Harassment

Vanessa Bailey, a gardener at Balboa Park in Encino, complained that she was sexually harassed by her co-workers. Bailey claimed, among other things, that while she was in a city truck, a co-worker exposed himself to her and another had magazines showing naked women. Bailey also said that a park supervisor kissed her against her […]

Supreme Court to Rule on Whether Health Reform Stands or Falls

Fast on the heels of the latest pertinent appeals court ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court definitively announced on Nov. 14 it will decide the question of whether Congress exceeded its powers to regulate commerce when it required people to buy health insurance as part of health reform (or in the converse, whether the individual mandate is allowed […]