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Ask the Expert: Can We Adjust Time Cards for Waiting Time?

Question: My employer uses a “4 -minute rule,” meaning that our employees have an 8-minute window (4 before and 4 after their scheduled time to clock in) without changes being made to their time cards. We do this because there’s a line waiting to clock in. However, for those who are more than the 4 […]

DOL Takes Critical View of Santa’s Workshop

After a long day, an employment lawyer has just settled his brain for a brief winter’s nap. Suddenly, he hears from his waiting room such a clatter that he rose from his adjustable ergonomic office chair to see what was the matter. As he throws open the door, he sees a plump old elf, who […]

Managers Must Manage

The other day, a colleague told me about one of his first tests as a new executive. He had recently been promoted when one of his direct reports — who had been a peer — recommended to him that an employee be put on a performance plan. When the newly promoted executive explored the situation […]

How Do You Establish Effective Metrics for Your Training Program?

“Training is an area that can be difficult to quantify,” Prince says. “However, it may be helpful to look at metrics that target the type of training and what it was intended to accomplish. For instance: Cost of sales training as a percent of total sales; Increase in hours of sales training compared with increases […]

Humana

Benefits Litigation: Humana Case May Point to Oncoming Wave

Things are happening, and they portend an explosion of benefits litigation. Yes, this once-sleepy corner of the employment law forest is buzzing with news, and it came on March 1 from our very own U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas—in an en banc decision, which means all the appeals court […]

Determining Reasonable Accommodations for Employee Disabilities

When and how must an employer determine reasonable accommodations that may be required for an individual with a disability? “First the employee has to have a disability, which means they’re substantially limited in a major life activity. If that’s the case, now as an employer we have to see if the employee needs a reasonable […]

The Devastating Result of a Single Word

A car wash company provided its employees with a handbook setting forth its employment policies. The handbook was written in both English and Spanish, it required arbitration of employment disputes, and it denied an employee’s right to bring an action under the California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The English version stated that the denial […]