Greening the Workplace: Put Your Company Ahead of the Curve
Recycling bins in the break room and copy room? Check. Water cooler installed to cut down on bottled water consumption? Check. Recycled paper for internal copying and printing? Check.
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News Notes: New Survey About Family-Friendly Benefits
What are employers doing to help employees balance work and family needs? A survey by the Families and Work Institute of 1,000 employers with 100+ employees reveals that 90% of the employers gave workers time off to attend school events, and half let employees stay home with a mildly sick child without using vacation or […]
Hiring: What Sort of Screening Should We Do for Various Employees?
We want to standardize our procedures for doing pre-employment background checks. What guidelines should we set up for which applicants get which checks? For example, who gets a criminal background check? Motor vehicle? Credentials verification? What do you recommend? — Ronald L., Office Manager in Chico
Child Labor Fines May Raise
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation that would raise the maximum fine for violating the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Child Protection Act of 2007 (H.R. 2637) would raise from $11,000 to $50,000 the maximum fine for violations that cause the serious injury or death of an employee […]
Benefits Other Than Health Insurance 2011 Survey Results
Each year, HR Hero and HRLaws survey readers about your organizations’ benefits packages. Although much has been said about the effects of health care reform on employer-based health insurance during the last year, the other benefits that organizations are offering their employees — flex time, telecommuting, child-care assistance, wellness programs, tuition reimbursement, and concierge services […]
News Notes: High Court Issues New Travel Time Ruling
The California Supreme Court recently ruled that an agricultural employer has to compensate farm workers for their travel time to and from work. The workers were required to report to a company parking lot each morning to take their employer’s buses to their worksite. The court noted that employers may provide free transportation to employees without […]
Wildfires Tax Local Fire Departments, Raise Wage and Hour Challenges
Higher than normal temperatures and dry conditions have fueled significant numbers of fires this wildfire season, particularly in the Western United States. Wage and hour issues may be far from the first concern for state and local agencies and communities preparing for, or dealing with, wildfires, but it behooves savvy municipalities to think about possible […]
Wage/Hour—Good News (Courts Losing Patience), Bad News (No One’s in Compliance)
There’s good news (sort of) and bad news for employers in the outlook for 2012, say attorneys from theEmployers Counsel Network. They covered new developments in wage/hour compliance during a presentation at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Nashville and Las Vegas. Wage and Hour—‘No One Is in Compliance’ No one is in […]
Bulletin Item: New Law Making Employers Liable For Harassment By Nonemployees Is Retroactive
A California appeal court has ruled that a new law (AB 76) holding employers liable for harassment by nonemployees, including clients, customers, and vendors, is retroactive to lawsuits that were already pending when the measure was signed into law last year by former Gov. Davis.
Workplace Wellness: "Success at Any Level"
According to one columnist, you really can’t fail in creating a workplace wellness program. Here’s a tool to help you do it. If one thing impressed us while writing our recent article on new HIPAA rules for workplace wellness programs, it was this quote from Indiana employment law attorney and business columnist Jim Jorgensen, as […]