Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
If an exempt employee damages or loses company-issued equipment, and you decide to dock the person’s salary to pay for the loss, you risk the employee’s exempt status. That’s the conclusion of a new opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The opinion was requested by an employer that issues cell phones and […]
Last Friday (Oct. 10) we discovered we had some significant technical problems with the survey on Your HR Department that caused us to lose many of your responses. So we’re going to try this again. The survey is the same. We’ve gotten the technical problems resolved. Now we just need you to take the survey […]
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 […]
It’s important to be extra careful when evaluating the abilities of an employee who was previously injured and wants to come back to work. Unless you carefully consider the individual’s current skills and recent medical reports, deciding that the worker can’t perform certain tasks can expose you to an expensive discrimination lawsuit for erroneously regarding […]
A multi-year investigation by the United States Department of Labor into violations of wage and hour laws by New Jersey gas stations has found “consistent and widespread noncompliance,” according to agency officials. The investment action recovered more than $1 million in back wages for 295 workers. In an agency statement, DOL Secretary Hilda L. Solis […]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced that it has ratified some of the actions it took while it was made up of mostly recess appointees who have since been judged to be invalid. However, the ratification likely won’t have any effect on the cases decided during that time, according to John P. Hasman, […]
Warning a new employee that coworkers might behave offensively won’t get you off the hook for being sued for harassment. When Larhonda Williams interviewed for a receptionist position with Snyder Roofing and Sheet Metal, the company told her she would be exposed to coarse language on the job, and she said she could handle it. […]
There are currently three new federal laws that are poised for approval in 2010. While it is uncertain whether or not each of these laws will ultimately be enacted, California employers are wise to plan ahead for these changes
Get ready now for an aggressive NLRB; meanwhile, get your ADA house in order, say panelists at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium (AEIS). Good news? It’s not too late to act.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently sent a strong warning to employers: You cannot just terminate employees who run out of leave without first exploring whether or not a reasonable accommodation can be provided.