Month: February 2009

New FMLA Regs: Holidays, Joint Employers, Pregnancy and More

In past issues of HR Hero Line, we’ve examined the FMLA regs issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) in November 2008. This week, the attorney editors of the Kentucky Employment Law letter examine a few more changes made by the new FMLA regulations including holidays, joint employers, leave for pregnancy and childbirth, and employer […]

Beware Misclassifying Workers as Exempt Administrative Employees

As employers know, certain employees aren’t entitled to overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The most common exemptions include the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. Because the administrative exemption is more nebulous than the executive and professional exemptions, employers often misclassify non-exempt workers as exempt administrative employees. Although it should be […]

The Taming of the Schrute

Litigation Value: $50,000 The last time we wrote about the Crime Aid episode of The Office, we advised that Dunder Mifflin might not be on the hook for any potential judgments for anything that happened in this episode. But on further review, I’m not so sure that was right. It’s entirely possible that a jury […]

Will Obama Really Push Pro-Union Legislation?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady BLR founder and CEO Bob Brady ponders the probable passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and the impact it will have on readers, and he suggests one step all organizations can take today. When candidate Obama was looking for votes, he praised the Employee Free Choice Act, […]

Republicans Race to Preempt EFCA with the Secret Ballot Protection Act

Republicans renewed the fight to preserve secret-ballot elections in union organization campaigns on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by introducing the Secret Ballot Protection Act (SBPA) in both houses of Congress. The SBPA is a counter to the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The Employee Free Choice Act has recently been the subject of many […]

EEOC Seeking Comment on Proposed GINA Regulations

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is in the process of finalizing regulations implementing the employment provisions of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, signed into law in May 2008, prohibits discrimination by health insurers and employers based on people’s genetic information. The EEOC is to issue […]

Wage & Hour Audits—You or the Feds?

Yesterday’s Advisor answered some quirky questions on overtime. Here are several more, plus an introduction to a wage and hour audit system that will help you spot problems before the feds do. Do we have to pay employees who clock in early?Is it legal for us to refuse to pay hourly employees straight time or […]

Minding the Store

Resources for Humans editor Celeste Blackburn reviews Minding the Store: Great Writing about Business from Tolstoy to Now, edited by Robert Coles and Albert LaFarge. While those looking for straightforward business insights will be disappointed, literature lovers should appreciate the business lessons that can be learned from great literature. Whether you are a member of […]

Quirky Overtime Questions You Probably Should Be Asking

Wage and hour ought to be simple, but our customers keep coming up with new twists. How many of these questions cover situations you face in your organization? Do I have to pay overtime on paid lunch breaks?Our workweek is 35 hours, plus we pay lunch breaks of 1 hour each day, totaling 40 hours […]

“Family Responsibility Discrimination”–A New Frontier?

If you’re not yet familiar with the term “family responsibility discrimination” (FRD), get ready—chances are, you’ll be hearing it a lot in the future. Although related to both sex and pregnancy discrimination, the term encompasses the broader idea that employers are biased against new parents/primary family care providers.