You’re the Expert: How do you recommend we handle alcohol at our holiday party?
How do you recommend that we handle alcohol at our holiday party? We do want to serve alcohol, but we want to limit consumption in some way.
Category: HR Management & Compliance
There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.
Hiring: Can We Use Credit Checks in Evaluating Candidates?
We routinely do background checks on our final candidates for employment. Now we’ve got a finalist that we all really like, but the background check revealed a problem credit history. The job doesn’t involve money, but we’re wondering what the credit history might reveal about this person’s character. I want to ask the candidate about […]
FMLA Leave: Can We Push Back the Annual Performance Review Date When Employees Take Leave?
When our employees go on leave, such as FMLA leave, we adjust their appraisal dates to reflect the leave time. For example, if they take 3 months of leave, they get their appraisal at the 15-month point rather than the usual 12 months. Now some of them are saying that the FMLA says that leave […]
Employee Uniforms: Court Says Public Employees Must Pay for Their Own Uniforms; A Look at the Rules for All Employers
Several employee groups—firefighters, sheriffs, police officers, guards, and forest rangers—filed class action suits against their public-sector employers in California, charging that they weren’t fully compensated for the costs of purchasing, replacing, cleaning, and maintaining required work uniforms, in violation of Labor Code Section 2802. This provision requires an employer to reimburse employees for all necessary […]
DLSE Reports on Status of Meal Period Rule
It’s been almost a year since the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) proposed a new rule to add flexibility for employers and employees to California’s meal period requirements. The rule, which has gone through several versions, still isn’t final.
Holiday Parties Are All the Rage in 2005
According to a new survey by HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates, almost three-quarters (74 percent) of employers are planning to host a party for employees this holiday season. Twenty-seven percent of these employers plan to spend $5,000 or less on their parties, 30 percent will pay between $5,000 and $20,000, and 15 percent will spend […]
Garamendi Recommends Further Pure Premium Rate Cut
Last week, California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi recommended a 15.3 percent drop in the pure premium rate for policies incepting Jan. 1, 2006. The commissioner’s recommendation was just shy of the 15.9 percent decrease that the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) recently recommended to the commissioner.
Feds Urge Employers to Prepare for Emergencies
The Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the Advertising Council, has launched a campaign to educate small and mid-sized employers about engaging in emergency preparedness efforts to protect their employees, business operations, and assets. The program includes a website, http://www.ready.gov, with extensive information on emergency planning, including a sample emergency plan, emergency supplies checklist, […]
L.A. Bus Driver Busted on Workers’ Comp Fraud Charges
Renee Terri Henderson, a bus driver with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), has plead guilty to charges that she submitted fraudulent workers’ comp claims. As a result of claims Henderson filed with the MTA, she collected weekly total temporary disability benefits of $386.65 for nine months. However, an investigation by the California Department […]
Employment Law Tip: Red Flags for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Fraudulent workers’ comp claims cost employers millions every year. And while fraudulent claims can often be hard to prove, there are some red flags it can pay to look out for. Possible indicators of employee fraud include: