Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By Thora Sigurdson The British Columbia Supreme Court recently awarded damages for mental distress in the context of a termination for cause. The decision in George v. Cowichan Tribes signals that it may be easier to establish such a claim when there is a just cause allegation that fails, compared with terminations without cause. It […]
Questions regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can get tricky. For example, if an employee is off work because of a medical condition, can the employer start the FMLA clock ticking even if the employee doesn’t want his time off counted against his FMLA leave allotment? And what about an exempt employee who […]
by Brad Federman Willful blindness is a legal term that means there is information you could and should know but have elected not to know. Deliberate indifference and contrived ignorance also are used to describe the phenomenon. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of willful blindness in the world today. Willful blindness causes the downfall […]
With summer quickly approaching, it’s time to pull out those warm-weather clothes and dust off my copy of Dirty Dancing, one of my favorite summer films. Who can forget the summer of 1963 when Baby performed her triumphant lift, Johnny taught us about standing up for others no matter what it costs us, and we […]
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has become the latest major health insurer to acknowledge having suffered a large-scale cyberattack on its member data. Information on about 1.1 million individuals was affected by the breach, which CareFirst discovered during an information technology security review conducted in the wake of the attacks on Anthem and Premera. In June 2014, […]
Few dispute the importance of developing a workforce full of well-trained employees. But no matter how carefully workers are recruited and hired, most employers realize not everybody lands in a new job with all the skills and knowledge the employer desires. And certainly longtime employees can’t be expected to stay on top of their game […]
by Jesse Goldstein The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice recently provided guidance on how employers are permitted to react when employees confess that they previously presented fraudulent documents in conjunction with Form I-9, which verifies workers’ employment eligibility. I-9 […]
The seven-season-long nonstop drink-and-smoke-a-thon that was Mad Men has come to a close. Were you entertained? Were you satisfied? Better yet, did you learn anything? I will spare you my personal thoughts on the merits of the ending as there are countless commentaries available on the Web. (Really, it’s amazing how many there are.) Suffice it to […]
by Daniel Mayer On June 16, important changes regarding union certification and decertification for federally regulated employers in Canada will come into effect. The federally regulated sector includes interprovincial and international transportation companies, airlines, railways, banks, and employees who work for the federal government.
It may be a cliché to say employees are an employer’s greatest asset. But if that weren’t true, it wouldn’t be a cliché and employers wouldn’t focus so much attention on retaining their best and brightest. The reasons behind an employee’s decision to leave a job depend on each individual’s situation, but new research identifies […]