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Employment Law Tip: What’s the Purpose of Exit Interviews?

Exit interviews are normally held with employees who have decided to terminate their employment or who have been discharged for cause. One purpose of conducting these interviews is to give departing workers the chance to express their thoughts, whether positive or negative, about the resignation or termination decision, as well as to offer their suggestions […]

Race Bias: EEOC Slaps Walgreens with Nationwide Class Action

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed an employment discrimination class action against Walgreen Co., alleging that the drug store chain discriminates against African American workers in its stores nationwide. Walgreens operates over 5,500 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, so the lawsuit affects thousands of current and former employees.

Are Ineligible Dependents Depending on You?

A Michigan company has developed a way to audit ineligible dependents out of healthcare plans, saving millions for its large employer clients. But smaller companies may also benefit from the concept. They say that every cloud has a silver lining. A Michigan company has found that silver, actually more like gold, in the endless overcast […]

Office Newpeats

I’m excited for this Thursday’s “newpeat.”  NBC will show two previously aired episodes (“Traveling Salesman” and “Oscar’s Return“) combined with new, never-before-seen moments.  One can only assume these never aired moments will include the antics we have come to expect from the Dunder Mifflin gang!  Stay tuned for my analysis on Friday.

The Merger

LITIGATION VALUE: Two weeks pay. Michael’s theory that a merger is like a marriage is an interesting one. He just seems to have forgotten that more than half of all marriages end in divorce. This week’s “divorce” was with Anthony Gardner, the employee Michael drove away with his crazy antics. Indeed, if it wasn’t bad […]

Let Us Survey Your Employees’ Attitudes – Free

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob BradyBLR’s founder introduces the National Employee Attitude Survey and invites you to find out more about your own workers’ attitudes, and how they benchmark to others, at no cost to you. In November, I wrote in this space about the employee attitude survey we’ve used at BLR for more […]

Sick Leave: SF Approves Transition Period for Paid Sick Leave

We reported last week that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was considering an ordinance that would give employers an additional transition period before San Francisco’s controversial paid sick leave law, Chapter 12W, takes full effect. The paid sick leave law was approved by voters and took effect on Feb. 5, 2007.

Attorneys Offer Tips to Avoid Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Lawsuits

Leading attorneys say you can stay dry in a rising tide of FLSA lawsuits by auditing your exempt/nonexempt classifications and maintaining a strict policy against improper deductions from pay. If you’d like your company to join the ranks of Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Radio Shack, and IBM, that’s easy to do. No, not in making stratospheric levels […]

Wage and Hour: Labor Commissioner Proposes Rules for Employee Expense Reimbursement

The California Labor Code requires employers to repay employees for all necessary expenditures employees incur in performing their jobs. However, the law doesn’t provide guidance as to what precisely must be reimbursed and at what rates, or whether paying an increased salary or commission satisfies the reimbursement requirement. Now, the labor commissioner has issued proposed […]