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Work-Life Balance: What Are Your Employees Up to During the Workday?
Two new surveys reveal that while workers report spending an average of 36 minutes per day—or about three hours a week—attending to personal tasks during the workday, executives believe the actual number is much higher. The surveys were conducted by staffing firm OfficeTeam.
High Court Extends Anti-Retaliation Protections
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County that Title VII’s anti-retaliation provision extends to an employee who speaks out about discrimination while answering questions during an employer’s internal investigation.
California Employers Can Fire Workers Who Use Medical Marijuana
California employers can breathe a deep sigh of relief: The California Supreme Court has just ruled that workers who use medical marijuana aren’t protected by the state’s disability bias law or the Compassionate Use Act.
Exempt Employees: Labor Commissioner Won’t Follow Federal Docking Rules, Issues Strict New California Standard
Under federal wage and hour law, employees must be paid a predetermined salary to qualify as exempt from overtime. And there are strict guidelines on when salary docking can jeopardize exempt status. When overhauling state wage and hour laws in 2000 with the passage of A.B. 60, California for the first time adopted similar salary […]
Delivery Drivers Misclassified As Independent Contractors
Is There ‘Unconscious Discrimination’ at Your Workplace? EEOC Wants to Know
Does your workplace discriminate “unconsciously?” Courts aren’t sure, says Fortune magazine. But the EEOC isn’t waiting to find out. Despite years of the government, courts, and society in general fighting it, patterns of discrimination still exist at many businesses. Workers seem to be held down based on race, gender, or other factors. But while some […]
Effective Today: New IRS Mileage Reimbursement Rate
The IRS, taking pity on drivers fueling up at increasingly costly pumps, has upped the mileage reimbursement rate to 55.5 cents per mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2011, through Dec. 31, 2011. This is an increase of 4.5 cents from the 51 cent rate in effect for the first six months […]
EBSA Reform Compliance Webcast Focuses on 2015 Employer Rules
In spite of the suspension of employer penalties under health care reform, the government strongly encourages employers to: (1) maintain or expand coverage; and (2) report on minimum affordable coverage under Section 6055 and/or 6056 rules. It’s important for employers to get experience gathering data and setting up systems for that reporting, Rachel Levy, an […]
Supreme Court Rules Public Employee’s Text Messages Not Private
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public employer did not violate an employee’s constitutional privacy rights by searching his personal (and often sexually explicit) text messages that were sent and received on his employer-issued pager. The Backstory The City of Ontario, California, issued pagers that could send and receive text messages to Ontario […]