Important New Employment Rulings from State High Court
The California Supreme Court has issued two new decisions of importance to employers.
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Employment Law Tip: Three Tips for Improving Workplace Safety
The beginning of a new year is an excellent time to whip your safety and health program into shape. Here are three high-value initiatives to help you protect workers and avoid health and safety citations while cutting the expense and effort associated with illness and injury:
The 3 Key Criteria for Choosing Your Payroll Auditor
Yesterday’s Advisor featured tips for finding payroll fraud; today, consultant Vicki Lambert CPP’s tips on who should do your payroll audit, plus an introduction to BLR’s popular HR Department of One. Lambert, who offers payroll training as “The Payroll Advisor,” says that you can’t give payroll auditing over to just anyone who’s free. There are […]
Is AI Recruiting Discrimination Inevitable?
In yesterday’s post, we discussed the idea that using artificial intelligence (AI) or big data in the recruiting process doesn’t eliminate problems with discrimination and bias. Perhaps counter-intuitively, these methods can actually emphasize bias if we’re not careful because the machine doesn’t know any better. It can only assess the (often imperfect) traits it is told to […]
Big Cases Get Class Action Status
Sexual Harassment: Same-Sex Harassment Case Settles for $1.8 Million
United Healthcare of Florida, Inc., has agreed to shell out $1.8 million in back pay and damages to resolve a same-sex harassment and retaliation lawsuit. The suit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), charged that a male regional vice president subjected a male senior account executive at the company’s Sunrise, Fla., office […]
News Notes: Court Throws Out One-Sided Arbitration Agreement
When Municipal Resource Consultants (MRC) tried to compel former employee Nicholas O’Hare to arbitrate a wrongful discharge and age-bias lawsuit, O’Hare contended the mandatory arbitration provision he signed wasn’t fair. The agreement required him to arbitrate all claims against the company, while it permitted MRC to file a lawsuit against him for injunctive relief. A […]
News Notes: New Data On Jobs With Most Injuries Requiring Time Off
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), truck drivers and nursing aides were the two occupations in private industry with the highest rate of injuries and illnesses requiring at least one day away from work in 2002. The BLS reports that there were 1.4 million total workplace injuries entailing at […]
News Notes: Race Discrimination Claim Upheld, Damages Reduced
In 1994, we reported on the case of a black engineer and his supervisor who sued Hughes Aircraft. The engineer claimed he was denied promotions and raises because of his race. His supervisor charged that managers pressured him to fabricate negative performance reviews about the engineer, and when he refused to comply, turned him down […]
Harassment Allegations Require Immediate Action
As soon as an employee comes to you and says, “I’m being harassed,” you need to address that allegation immediately. It may be that no harassment has actually taken place, but it’s your job to launch a prompt, thorough investigation to find out.