Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Rosalind H. Cooper It is commonplace for companies and supervisors across Canada to be charged and convicted with respect to health and safety offenses. But the same doesn’t necessarily hold true for health and safety managers. In R. v. Della Valle, the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia recently convicted and fined a health and […]
It’s the season of cardboard cupid decorations festooning cubicles and desks sporting little bowls of heart-shaped candies inscribed with messages such as, “Be Mine,” and “Love.” Valentine’s Day can provide a fun break from winter blahs around the office, but it’s also a reminder of a potential legal hazard — office romance. Employers struggle to […]
Many employers try hard to curtail employee claims against them, or at least to channel such claims away from the courts and into less costly forums. Some have done this by forcing employees to promise not to file a class action suit; others allow class actions, but require that they be resolved through arbitration. The […]
Most employment laws include provisions protecting employees from vindictive managers who would otherwise punish them for exercising their rights. The Fair Labor Standards Act is no exception. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division takes the anti-retaliation provisions of the FLSA seriously enough that it released a fact sheet (WHD Fact Sheet #77A) in December […]
Federal contractors have an additional two weeks — until Feb. 21 — to respond to the Labor Department’s proposal establishing goals for hiring workers with disabilities. In December, Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs released proposed regulations that would require federal contractors to aim to have 7 percent of their workforce be individuals with […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has long required employers subject to Title VII and the Americans With Disabilities Act to retain employment records, and now the same is required for those subject to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. In final rules released Feb. 3, the commission amended its recordkeeping regulations to include employers covered by […]
By Liza Casabona Thinking that an unpaid intern might provide an answer to payroll your budget woes? Think again. Several recent, high profile lawsuits filed by interns underscore the risks faced by companies sponsoring unpaid internships. The Hearst Corp. is among the latest companies to be accused by interns of wage and hour violations. The […]
A reminder for New York employers: If you haven’t already completed the Notice of Wage Payment forms required under the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA), time is running out. The law, which took effect on April 9, 2011, requires covered employers to give written notice of wage rates to all new hires at […]
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced on Jan. 30 that the U.S. Department of Labor is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement new statutory amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act that would expand military family leave provisions and incorporate a special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees. The FMLA, […]
By Celeste Blackburn Are your employees gambling at work? With the Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments coming up, it’s almost a sure bet that at least some employees are gambling on sports during company time, using company equipment. Sometimes, employees don’t wait for major sporting event to gamble, instead betting on the Oscars, American […]