Most Popular

News Notes: Recruiter Wins Big In Bias Case

An Orange County jury has ordered Hyundai Electronics America Inc. to pay nearly $10 million to an executive recruiter who claimed his rights were violated. Technical Resources owner Jeffrey Abraham claimed that Hyundai told him not to refer black or female candidates to the company’s Oregon semiconductor plant because Korean managers there didn’t want to […]

California Supreme Court to Review Meal Period Issue

In recent months, the California appeals courts have grappled with whether the extra one-hour’s wages an employer must pay an employee for a missed meal or rest period amounts to a penalty or wages. A penalty carries a one-year time limit for an employee to file a claim; wages carry a three-year time limit. Now, […]

GAO Recommends Stepping Up Retirement Education Efforts to Small Businesses

Small businesses that seek to improve their retirement plans should have access to more information from the federal government. That is the recommendation of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which in a recent report steers clear of advocating bold moves and suggests that the federal government improve what it’s already doing in order to better […]

EEOC Claims Continue to Rise

According to its annual report issued November 16, 2009, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 93,277 private-sector discrimination charges in fiscal year (FY) 2009, its second highest total in the past 20 years. In addition, the EEOC obtained record relief of almost $300 million for alleged discrimination victims through administrative enforcement. Breakdown of Charges […]

Contractors Must Implement Hiring Goals for Workers With Disabilities, Veterans

Federal contractors and subcontractors must soon meet a hiring goal for workers with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Aug. 27. New regulations have been finalized that will, among other things, require contractors to ensure that workers with disabilities make up 7 percent of their workforces. In addition to the hiring goal, the rules require that […]

Employers Are Likely to Cover Mandates Even if High Court Strikes Health Reform

As you must know by now, regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the federal health care reform, a couple of very large insurers announced they would continue several of health reform’s insurance mandates. The impact of this announcement directly applies to companies that buy full insurance. But self-insured plans and employers big enough […]

Congress, White House Seek to Lessen Employers’ Regulatory Burden

The White House recently instructed federal agencies to put the brakes on rulemakings related to employment. That same day, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would prohibit significant rulemakings until the nation’s unemployment rate improves. The White House’s March 20 order came out of its Office of Management and Budget and was sent […]

Off-Duty Activities: Legislation Creates New Protections For Job Applicants, Broader Remedies For Employees

Gov. Davis has signed a new measure, A.B. 1015, that creates new labor law protections for job applicants’ outside activities and political interests and strengthens remedies employees already have. The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2002, and applies to most public and private employees with a few exceptions. We’ll cover the key points.

What’s New in Incentive Compensation? Let’s Find Out

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady For years, BLR has surveyed HR and benefits professionals to find trends in benefits. We appreciate your participation in our monthly series of brief, targeted benefits surveys. Today’s survey topic: Incentive Compensation. (We’ll publish the results in a future issue.) Incentive comp is certainly on the front burner […]