Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Recently, a California employer was hauled into court by an employee because the employer refused to reimburse its workers for their actual automobile business expenses. Instead, the employer paid an increased commission that it contended was fully sufficient to cover an employee’s business use of his or her personal vehicle. An appeals court took the […]
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has released revised rules under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), implementing changes to the nondiscrimination and affirmative action requirements of federal contractors and subcontractors. The revisions were required by the 2002 Jobs for Veterans Act, which, among other […]
First rule of auditing: Before you start, get legal advice on how to keep the results confidential. Otherwise, in the event of a suit, you’ll likely have to reveal the results of your audit. And the second rule of auditing: Be sure that management is willing to make corrections if infractions are found. If your […]
Compensation pros, are your sales incentive policies actually driving your best salespeople away? It’s likely, if you aren’t careful, says Chally Group’s Vice President of R&D Sally Stevens. Even with the best of intentions, you can incentivize your best people to leave, says Stevens. Chally Group Worldwide is a global leadership, sales potential, and performance […]
To avoid FLSA trouble, be careful of misclassifying employees, making improper deductions, denying breaks, and allowing nonexempts to work “off the clock.” Dell Computers built its success on operating numerous call centers, where customers could phone in and buy their systems direct from the manufacturer. Now the way Dell runs those centers is under attack. […]
Rent-A-Center, a rent-to-own furniture chain, will pay $3 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that assistant managers in California were improperly classified as exempt from overtime because they only occasionally performed managerial duties. And in a separate lawsuit, about 1,200 California applicants and employees will share in a $2.1 million settlement of claims […]
Recently, we posted survey results from the Society of Human Resource Management showing that almost a third of respondents monitor employees’ use of social media platforms. Hopefully, they are also tracking the laws that could limit the extent of such monitoring. “Social media monitoring that runs afoul of the employee’s privacy interests will subject the […]
President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a White House press release issued Friday, April 24, 2009. Congress created the NLRB in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the principal law that governs relations between labor unions, employers, […]
Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division collected $166 million in back wages on behalf of 241,000 employees for employer violations of laws enforced by the division. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal wage-and- hour law, the division recovered a total of $134.2 million, including $119.4 million for […]
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)—the federal agency that insures pension benefits for millions of Americans—has published a final rule requiring sponsors of defined benefit pension plans to electronically file their annual premium declarations. Effective July 1, large plan sponsors (those with 500 or more participants) must file premiums electronically for plan years beginning on […]