Month: April 2013

How Effective Are Executive Coaching Programs?

Executive coaching programs are seen as being “very effective” by 26% of companies offering such programs and “somewhat effective” by 62% of companies, according to a recent national survey. In addition, 12% reported that their executive coaching programs are “ineffective,” according to the survey of 230 organizations by AMA Enterprise, a division of the American […]

FLSA Misclassification Woes: Independent Contractor or Employee?

Properly classifying someone as either an independent contractor or employee is one of the biggest problems employers have when adhering to FLSA requirements. Do you know when it is okay to classify someone as an independent contractor and when they should be classified as an employee instead? DOL Focus: Independent Contractor or Employee "One of […]

FMLA Can Apply when Domestic Violence Impacts the Workplace

Domestic violence in the workplace has a significant impact on the abused employee as well as the rest of the staff. It can have a significant impact on the victim’s physical and mental health, and can also affect other aspects of the victim’s life, including work. According to Employers Against Domestic Violence, 71 percent of […]

Social Media Octopus–8 Tentacles Every HR Manager Must Master

Social media—It’s everywhere HR turns. In a recent BLR/HRHero-sponsored webinar, Patricia Trainor and Stephen Bruce, PhD, identified eight tentacles that you need to watch out for. Attorney Trainor is BLR’s Senior Managing Editor, HR; Bruce is editor of the HR Daily Advisor. Tentacle #1—Sourcing and Recruiting with Social Media It’s clear that social media is […]

European Employment Law 101: Employment At-Will Is Truly a Foreign Concept

European employment laws differ significantly from U.S. employment laws. One of the biggest conceptual differences is the unique U.S. employment at-will doctrine—which does not exist in European employment law. Naturally, understanding this difference (among many others) is especially important when dealing with the European Union and its member states. Many U.S. employers have made mistakes […]

Stop-Loss Insurers Would Not Be Health Exchange ‘Navigators’ Under HHS Proposal

The health reform law provides that entities called “Navigators” will assist consumers and small businesses in researching health insurance exchanges — but stop-loss insurers for self-funded health plans won’t be one of them. Those insurers, as well as individuals and other entities with too close a financial relationship to such insurers, would be excluded from […]

Employer’s FMLA Notice Requirements Leave Little Room for Guesswork

While HR professionals may sometimes struggle with the murky areas of employment law, in a leave of absence situation, there should be no mistaking some of the more immediate obligations under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Within five business days of receiving a request for leave, for example, you must provide three types of […]

7th Circuit: Successor Must Pay $500K for Previous Owner’s FLSA Violations

A successor employer could not escape paying a $500,000 damages award for the previous owner’s Fair Labor Standards Act violations.  The case, Teed et al. v. Thomas & Betts Power Solutions LLC, Nos. 12-2440, 12-3029 (7th Cir. March 26, 2013), involved a tricky analysis of whether the purchaser of a business could be held responsible […]

Outback Steakhouse to Pay $65K for Firing Disabled Server

Outback Steakhouse will pay $65,000 to a server it fired because of his traumatic brain injury, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The payment will settle a lawsuit EEOC filed on the server’s behalf. The commission alleged that John Woods was fired after a new manager took over an Outback restaurant in Phoenix. Woods worked […]