Most Popular
News Notes: Employer Blocks Ex-Employee Raider But Still Loses 100 Staffers
Competitors luring away workers is an increasing concern these days. In a recent case, Jeff Sposito, a managing broker with Jon Douglas Co. in Walnut Creek, quit less than a week after Coldwell Banker acquired his company. He immediately joined a rival and, allegedly within a day, persuaded more than 100 agents and office staff […]
News Flash: Wage And Hour Hearings Wrap Up
On June 30, the Industrial Welfare Commission finished a series of hearings intended to finalize new wage orders that will be issued in October. At the hearing, the commission adopted new rules on a variety of wage and hour issues, including clarification of alternative workweek election and repeal regulations, changes to the meal period rules, […]
Day Laborer Wage Concerns Highlighted In New Study
Forty-nine percent of day laborers polled for a new study said that an employer denied wages for work they completed in the previous two months. In the study, “On the Corner: Day Labor in the United States,” 48 percent of day laborers said that an employer underpaid them during the same time period; 44 percent […]
Senate Rejects Boost in Federal Minimum Wage
Measures to raise the federal minimum wage to $6.25 per hour, up from the current $5.15 per hour, failed in the Senate last week. One measure, introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) as an amendment to a spending bill, was rejected in a 51-47 vote, and a similar GOP-introduced bill went down in a 57-42 […]
National Payroll Week
National Payroll Week celebrates the hard work by America’s 156 million wage earners and the payroll professionals who pay them. Together, through the payroll withholding system, they contribute, collect, report and deposit approximately $1.8 trillion, or 65.7%, of the annual revenue of the U.S. Treasury. Founded in 1996 by the American Payroll Association, NPW is […]
Bulletin Item: Technology Company Pays $350,000 To Settle Federal Discrimination Claims
Unicom, a maker of computer network components, agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), on behalf of 10 current and former employees, that alleged the company discriminated against African-American, Hispanic and female employees. Unicom did not admit any wrongdoing but has agreed to bring in an outside consultant to […]
Paid Sick Leave Measure Introduced in Congress
U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have introduced the Healthy Families Act, legislation that, if passed, would guarantee seven paid sick days per year to employees working at least 30 hours a week at companies with 15 or more workers. The sick days could be used for the employee’s own medical […]
Workplace Harassment: State High Court Approves Ban On Insulting Speech At Work; Will The Courts Start Managing Your Workplace?
When a group of Latino Avis Rent-A-Car employees at the San Francisco International Airport filed a harassment lawsuit charging a manager with using derogatory racial epithets, they were awarded more than $100,000 in damages. But the workers didn’t stop there. They also convinced the court to issue an order barring the manager from making offensive […]
News Notes: State Issues Workers’ Comp Fact Sheet For Employees
A free new 10-page “fact sheet” designed to be given to injured workers has been developed by the state Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation. “Working After a Job Injury” explains employees’ rights and responsibilities in returning to work after a workplace injury. It covers such issues as work restrictions, modified jobs, disability […]