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It has only been a month since the new federal Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act was signed into law, but the new tax cut rates are already in effect…and employers must race to adjust their payrolls. As of January 1st, the Social Security Tax withholding rate has been reduced from 6.2% […]
Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, decided that federal antibias laws don’t prohibit employers from requiring job applicants and employees to sign mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. The case then went before a full panel of the Ninth Circuit for review—which has now handed down another strong […]
Do you think exit interviews are helpful? We just had a case in which an ex-employee, during the exit interview, accused a manager of discrimination. The manager blew it off, saying, “Oh, she’s just a disgruntled employee who’s letting off steam on her way out,” and nothing came of it. I don’t know whether it’s […]
In other legislation news, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed bills that would have required large employers to spend a certain percentage of their total wages on healthcare insurance and that would have created a single-payer government-run health care system.
President Obama has signed legislation extending the deadline for COBRA continuation coverage subsidies, allowing workers who are involuntarily terminated in March to qualify for the program. The Senate approved the legislation, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (H. R. 4691), late on Tuesday.
In a flurry of employment-related activity, the high court ruled that state employees can’t sue for age discrimination under federal law, although they can still file suit under state law. Plus, the court upheld the following important decisions: the landmark Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruling that said Microsoft improperly treated temporary employees as independent […]
Poor economic conditions are contributing to a rise in workplace theft by employees, according to a new survey of 392 employers conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity. Twenty-four percent of all respondents and 31 percent of respondents at large companies (10,000 or more workers) reported an increase in theft of office supplies, products produced […]