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News Notes: Government Expanding Use Of Undercover Testers

Federal agencies responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws are stepping up their use of ‘testers’-individuals who act as job applicants for the sole purpose of scoping out whether your hiring practices are legal. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is now utilizing outside vendors to conduct the testing. And the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the […]

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Important Retaliation Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court has just released a ruling in the case of Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, concluding 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.

Bill Would Allow Tax Reimbursement to Federal Employees for Domestic Partner’s Travel

Heads of federal agencies would have the authority to reimburse employees for the taxes imposed on reimbursements of travel or transportation expenses their domestic partners incur when accompanying them on a business trip, under a bill introduced in the U.S. House on Nov. 18 —  the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 3485). The […]

DOL Nixes Salary Deductions When Exempt Worker Damages Equipment

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 […]

Who’s Paying What to Whom?

By Robert Brady President and Publisher Business and Legal Resources Just My E-pinion It’s been a struggle (to say the least) to manage compensation with all the recent economic pressures. With little or no money available, how do you keep employees motivated? Help us find out by completing our brief cash compensation survey—and we’ll share […]

New EEOC Leaders Will Focus on Diversity

The Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on January 23 that President Barack Obama has appointed Stuart J. Ishimaru as acting chair of the EEOC and Christine M. Griffin as acting vice chair. Ishimaru, whose term expires July 1, 2012, has been a commissioner since November 2003. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a […]

Oklahoma Voters Say ‘Yes’ to Health Care Choice

Voters in Oklahoma decided to show their disapproval of the insurance mandate found in federal health care reform by passing a health care choice measure on Election Day. The initiative allows Oklahoma residents to opt out of health care mandates by prohibiting laws that would make residents, employers, or health care providers participate in a […]

New York State Human Resources Administration Employees Steal $8 Million

Three employees of the New York City Human Resources Administration are accused of taking part in a scheme which robbed $8 million dollars from the federal food stamp program, said the New York Times. The individuals had all either worked, or were currently working for the city, where the food stamp program was being administered. […]

Your HR Department Survey 2.0

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 […]