Tag: Employment law

10 FMLA tips for HR professionals

By Jason Ritchie The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can be one of the most daunting employment laws HR has to deal with. There are very specific rules and procedures that must be followed to ensure that both employee and employer are protected. Recently, employment law attorneys from Holland & Hart in Billings, Montana, […]

Breaking Bad: Disciplining employees for off-duty conduct

You can hardly get through your morning coffee these days without seeing another story about some athlete, model, or actor who abused his wife, trashed her Beverly Hills hotel room, or went all Archie Bunker in a racist Twitter rampage. Usually, high-profile celebrities are bound by employment contracts that require strict adherence to an impeccable standard of personal conduct. But what can the average employer do if Walter […]

It’s not a settlement when the parties can’t agree on what they agreed to

By Christina Hall It is usually good news for employers and employees if they are able to resolve an employment dispute and reach a settlement before engaging in protracted litigation. However, finalizing the details of a settlement can be a tedious process. When the parties rush through the process or fail to properly consider the […]

IRS Mandates Electronic Filing by Large Retirement Plans

IRS issued final regulations requiring employer retirement plan sponsors or administrators that file at least 250 returns in a calendar year to submit Form 5500 annual reports and other plan-related documents electronically. The regulations are effective Sept. 29, and apply for plan years that begin on or after Jan. 1, 2014, and have a filing […]

Cursing, fighting, and screaming could be protected under the NLRA

Too bad workplaces don’t come with the technology that allows employers to replace curse words with the bleeps so often heard during profanity-laced tirades on television. Then, maybe, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) wouldn’t be called on to settle disputes such as one that occurred after a bikini contest at a Hooters restaurant in […]

Multitasking hinders productivity

by Dinita James Multitasking increases worker productivity, right? That is at least common wisdom. It seems that if we can do two, three, or even four things at once, we are accomplishing more in less time. Research on the human brain is pointing decidedly in the other direction, however. According to one recent study, multitasking […]

NY Mets Brass Charged with Pregnancy Discrimination

A former New York Mets executive has filed a federal lawsuit against the baseball franchise alleging violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act and the New York State Human Rights Law, claiming that she was harassed and ultimately dismissed for being pregnant. The complaint, filed by Leigh Castergine in the U.S. District Court for […]

Labor Board gets an F for its treatment of A-List

Celebrities … they’re just like us. Which is to say that they now have a reason to be ticked off at the National Labor Relations Board too. A recent decision by an NLRB administrative law judge tells Hollywood’s A-listers they get no special treatment under the labor laws. The MUSE School, founded by Titanic director James Cameron, […]

Adverse-effect discrimination and probationary employees

by Kyla Stott-Jess In Canada, it is well-established that employers cannot simply terminate employees whose work performance is negatively impacted by disability. Rather, an employer must attempt to accommodate the employee to the point of undue hardship. But what happens when the employee fails to notify the employer of his disability? Further, what accommodation does […]

Looking ahead: Report offers glimpse of workplace in 2022 and beyond

Trends shift and societal pendulums swing, but lasting change manages to take shape anyway. Futurists may have a tough time predicting what tomorrow’s workplace will look like, but that doesn’t keep them from trying. A new report from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is giving human resources thinkers a lot to consider as they plan how to […]