Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Every year, thousands of forklift-related injuries occur in the United States. According to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), these injuries are often attributed to a lack of safe operating procedures and safety rule enforcement as well as insufficient training.
Do you know when you’re required to provide employees with meal and rest breaks? Are you following the rules? If not, you could be headed toward an expensive legal battle. And a recent spate of wage and hour lawsuits charging employers with violating meal and rest break provisions is focusing attention on these rules.
Many employers try to combat workplace bias with diversity programs that emphasize the company’s commitment to respecting differences, such as sexual orientation. But suppose an employee with strong religious beliefs posts messages offensive to a protected group. What are your obligations—to the employee and co-workers—in this situation? A new case addresses this problem.
Overturning a hefty retaliation verdict, an important California appeal court ruling has put the brakes on testimony from human resource experts that usurp a jury’s role to decide your motives for terminating an employee.
Most employers know the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires you to provide a reasonable accommodation for a qualified disabled employee. But did you know that even if an employee doesn’t have an ADA-covered disability, their request for a reasonable accommodation may still be a protected activity?
Production line employees at the IBP Inc. meat processing plant in Pasco, Washington, are required to be at their workstations as the first piece of meat comes down the line. Before taking their positions, the employees must prepare their work tools and change into protective gear, such as sanitary aprons, metalmesh leggings, Kevlar gloves, and […]
In April 2003, comprehensive new privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act went into effect for large group health plans. Now, on April 14, 2004, the rules will also apply to small group health plans—which includes insured plans with total annual premiums of less than $5 million or self-insured plans with total […]
Clothing retailer The Wet Seal Inc. has agreed to shell out up to $1.3 million to settle a dispute with as many as 500 California store managers who claimed they were improperly classified as exempt from overtime pay because they performed primarily nonexempt work, such as stocking and helping customers. In a separate development, The […]
Raul Quintero charged he didn’t get a fair hearing before the Santa Ana Personnel Board when he unsuccessfully challenged his discharge from his job with the city of Santa Ana. Quintero claimed the attorney representing the city at the hearing had also acted as the personnel board’s counsel, which raised the specter that the […]
Recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures reveal the number of workers who belong to labor unions has continued its steady 20-year decline. In 2003, just 12.9 percent of U.S. workers belonged to a labor union, down from 13.3 percent a year earlier. For private sector workers, union membership fell from 8.6 percent to […]