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by Leslie Stout-Tabackman and David Fortney, Fortney & Scott, LLC This article arises from comments on the “Bridge to Justice” program by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Solicitor Patricia Smith during the panel discussion “The Obama Administration’s Enforcement of the Wage and Hour Laws” at the Practicing Law Institute’s (PLI) “Managing Wage & Hour Risks […]
By Isabelle Dongier Foreign workers can be an important source of labor for Canadian employers, permitting them to fill shortages in a variety of professions and industries. In an attempt to better protect vulnerable foreign workers from what the government has called unscrupulous employers and agents, the Canadian government will introduce a new regime for […]
Last night, my television was playing a marathon of “Office” repeats, leaving us without new catastrophes to dissect. So in an attempt to find something to share with you folks, I contacted my mole in Sabre’s corporate human resources department to see what’s new down in Tallahassee. As it turns out, I have a special treat for […]
Employers have started hiring again and are often overwhelmed with huge numbers of resumes, even for entry-level positions. Some companies have decided that an effective way to identify the best candidates is to refuse to consider job applicants who are currently unemployed. But a number of human resources professionals, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), […]
By Sara Parchello It’s amazing the issues that pop up in front of human rights tribunals across Canada. Recently, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission was asked whether it is discriminatory to fire an employee for shaving her head. On an equally interesting level, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal was asked whether it is discriminatory to […]
Litigation Value: At the end of the day, shockingly little, given that it was a Packer-based episode. So who has two thumbs and thinks Sabre/Dunder-Mifflin dodged a bullet after Todd Packer returned to The Office? This guy! Tonight’s episode finds Michael’s BFF Packer looking to come in from the road and reclaim “his” desk (which […]
Let’s say you’re an employer that maintains unencrypted employee information on a laptop computer and the computer gets stolen. Could you be liable for the possible harm that could come to employees if their personal information were disclosed? In a recent decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that affected employees might have […]
By Rosalind Cooper For years employers across Canada have struggled with the difference between independent contractors and employees. Individuals believed to be independent contractors are often classified as employees after their relationship ends, leading to liability for employment-related severance and other amounts. The courts, human rights tribunals, and other administrative tribunals are constantly grappling with […]
It was another nonproductive workday at The Office. After 10 years, Michael’s little known, self-written, self-produced, self-directed, and self-starred-in movie, Threat Level Midnight, finally debuted in Scranton. Despite a private staff-only viewing a few years back in which the movie was mistakenly taken for a comedy (it’s really Michael’s rip-off of James Bond and Austin Powers […]
The big news last fall from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was that for the first year in history, retaliation claims had surpassed race discrimination claims as the most filed complaint in 2010. But the sleeper issue employers could be grappling with very soon is a significant increase in age discrimination claims. Recently the […]