Month: July 2009

How Employers Can Avoid Becoming an EEOC Statistic: Part 1

by Amy M. McLaughlin In its year-end statistics, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported that 75,768 discrimination charges were filed against private-sector employers in 2006. That was the first increase in charge filings in four years. By 2008, the total number of charges filed with the EEOC had jumped 25% to 95,402. With workplace […]

DOL’s Renewed Focus: Wage and Hour Enforcement

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report and congressional testimony concerning its investigation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD). The GAO concluded that the “WHD frequently responded inadequately to complaints, leaving low wage workers vulnerable to wage theft.” This article summarizes the GAO’s report, DOL Secretary Hilda […]

Senate Finance Committee’s Proposals to Expand Health Care, Reduce Costs, and Pay for It All

Previously, we discussed three potential option papers the Senate Finance Committee released in April and May which outline major health care reform issues and approaches to resolving them. This week, we will look at the specifics of each of the three papers and what they mean for employers. Since the papers were released, the Congressional […]

Do Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures?

Is anyone else concerned about the decisions being made by companies during the current economic crisis?  Let me rephrase that. Is anyone else concerned about the decisions being made by the PEOPLE inside some companies during the economic crisis? Let’s face it, people make decisions. The decisions may be made on behalf of an organization, […]

Recipe for Disaster

On last night’s rerun episode, Lecture Circuit, Michael, whose office had the highest sales, traveled to other Dunder Mifflin offices to share his “secret recipe for success.”  Along the way, Michael manages to offend every single woman he meets. Poor Pam is the is the main target of Michael’s harassment.  He asks her to take […]

The Key for New Execs? Be a Good Listener

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady The New York Times recently introduced a feature in its Sunday Business section featuring interviews with company CEOs. Unlike a lot of “celebrity” interviews, these are short and focused on a few key things that made a difference in the subject’s career. Recently, Kevin W. Sharer, CEO of […]

RIFs: Beware the Hidden Costs

A reduction in force (RIF) often seems the obvious cure to financial challenges, but there can be surprisingly high costs associated with a RIF. You may want to consider alternatives. Consider these potential RIF costs: Lawsuits. This is an expensive aspect of any RIF, but there are steps to take to minimize the risk. Most […]

Who’s Got Your Back?

Employment law attorney Michael Maslanka reviews Keith Ferrazzi’s book Who’s Got Your Back. Author of the ubernetworking book Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time Keith Ferazzi’s latest book  Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success–and Won’t Let You Fail argues […]

RIF Rules—The 6 WARN Exceptions

Reductions in Force (RIFs) under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) are burdensome, but you might be in luck—there are six exceptions to the act, as spelled out by HR.BLR.com. First, there are three situations in which WARN rules may not apply at all: (1) The closing in question is of a […]

Ontario Court Rules Class Action Not Allowed for Overtime Claim

By Alix Herber and Ian Campbell One of the hottest issues in Canadian employment law in the past two years has been overtime class-action claims. As we outlined in our October 7, 2008, entry, 2007 saw three overtime class-action lawsuits a $651 million class-action lawsuit filed against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), followed […]