Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
This content was originally published in April 2009. For the latest FMLA regulation changes, visit our FMLA article archives or try our practical FMLA compliance guide. As predicted, paid leave initiatives have continued on the move, most recently to the District of Columbia, the city of Milwaukee, the city of Philadelphia, and for federal government […]
We’re contemplating a new policy that will allow many of our employees to work from home several days a week. Before we launch into this program, I’d like to have some clarification on what responsibilities—or liabilities—we have. If employees are injured while working at home, for example, what happens? If customers get injured while seeing […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Labor Department has sued Time Warner, Inc., charging that hundreds of workers classified as temporary employees or independent contractors are entitled to retroactive health and pension benefits. Time Warner allegedly classified workers as temporary even after they had worked long enough to be considered regular employees under company guidelines. The government also accuses the […]
A number of workplace-related bills considered last year in Sacramento and Washington have cropped up again—and could have a big impact on employers—from workers’ comp reform to a ban on secret e-mail monitoring.
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 […]
Hurricane Sandy’s path of destruction has left many homeowners, municipalities and businesses in need of reconstruction and repairs — and when such weather-related disasters require massive reconstruction efforts, many landscapers and builders hire subcontractors to help. Increased joint employer liability, particularly in those industries that frequently use subcontractors, often goes hand-in-hand with worker misclassification. Employers […]
The HITECH Act is now here in full. The whole litany of tighter privacy and security requirements is in the long-awaited, long-delayed “omnibus” rules finalized Jan. 17 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and most of these will have to be met by this Sept. 23. The omnibus rules also include changes […]
Wage and Hour Appeals AB 223 makes it harder for employers to recover attorney’s fees and costs in connection with an employee’s appeal from a labor commissioner wage and hour ruling. If the court awards the employee a sum greater than zero in the appeal, the appeal is successful and the employer can’t recover its […]