Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Consider the following two scenarios: A male employee requests extended leave to provide at-home care to a sick child. Instead of evaluating the request based on his eligibility for leave, the employer questions why the child’s mother can’t care for her. A qualified female employee with two preschool children is considered a “poor fit” for […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $300,000+ Holding a Survivor-like contest to determine who will be recommended for a promotion to regional manager is not going to end well for Dunder Mifflin. At all. If the decision is challenged (which it almost certainly will be) then the company is going to be asked to articulate a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR’s founder joins “Michael Scott,” fictional manager of TV’s The Office, in discussing how “gruntled,”, a.k.a. satisfied, workers are, and what makes them so. Are workers at your firm “gruntled” or “dis”gruntled? That is to say, are they happy, satisfied, and motivated, or ready to bolt for the […]
The FMLA is one of the most complex of labor laws, and it soon may become even more so. Here’s a tool for making compliance easier, and to keep up with the changes. Question: Where can a person be classified as a parent without actually being a parent? Answer: In the Family and Medical Leave […]
Recent statistics from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that charges of race discrimination now account for 36 percent of the agency’s private-sector caseload. And now, in light of these figures, the EEOC is putting the spotlight on workplace racial bias.
The Treasury Department and the IRS have issued final rules regarding section 409A nonqualified deferred compensation plans and arrangements. The new regulations provide extensive information on how employers can identify nonqualified deferred compensation plans and arrangements subject to section 409A, along with rules to help employers and employees comply. Plans and arrangements affected by the […]
FedEx Corp. has agreed to pay out $53.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit charging that the company’s express delivery unit, FedEx Express, discriminated against African-American and Latino workers. The settlement, which is believed to be among the 10 most expensive discrimination settlements in U.S. history, affects about 20,000 employees in the company’s Western […]
Last week, President Bush vetoed a spending bill to which a minimum wage increase was attached. The president’s veto message stated that he supports an increase in the federal minimum wage, but vetoed the bill because it included a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
Just in time for Mother’s Day comes news that workplace discrimination based on parental status may be increasing. If your mom hasn’t already reminded you of it (subtly, of course), this Sunday is Mother’s Day. It’s a time when society traditionally extols the values of motherhood. But in the workplace, according to growing numbers of […]
Recent research shows stress-induced worker moods affect your productivity as well as their health. Here’s a tool for teaching workers to manage stress, for their good and yours. If you’ve ever wondered whether the mood your workers are in actually affects the job they do, yesterday’s Daily Advisor pointed toward an answer. That answer came […]