Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
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.
In earlier articles we reported on two new U.S. Supreme Court affirmative action decisions with implications for workplace diversity programs. Cultivating and maintaining a diverse workforce is a complex and ongoing process, and it’s not always easy to know how to proceed. This two-part series will address why organizations adopt diversity programs, ways to get […]
It’s important to understand the warning signs that a worker might be headed for violent behavior. Here’s a list of stress factors, cues, and signals that many psychologists believe may indicate potential for violent behavior in the workplace. Of course, just how significant any of these factors may be will depend on your situation:
The Treasury Department and the IRS have announced that certain over-the-counter (OTC) drugs can be reimbursed through employers’ flexible spending accounts (FSAs). This means that reimbursements by FSAs and other employer health plans allow employees to make their purchases with pretax dollars.
A federal jury in San Jose has sided with Sunnyvale chip maker Advanced Micro Devices on allegations that executive Walid Maghribi was forced to quit shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, after AMD chairman Jerry Sanders learned Maghribi was a Lebanese Muslim. Maghribi charged the company made his job intolerable because of […]
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a $3.1 million verdict, including a $2.6 million punitive damage award, for an executive who claimed he was discriminated against and fired because of his Chinese nationality and ethnicity. Wei Zhang, who before coming to the United States was a business and economics professor in China, was […]
The County of Fresno was dismissed from a sexual harassment lawsuit after it contended that the alleged harasser’s conduct fell outside the scope of his employment. The victim and harasser subsequently entered into a stipulated judgment for $16,000—and then the victim turned around and sued the county for the $16,000 after the harasser assigned the […]
At the 11th hour, a joint committee of the state Assembly passed a bill that is intended to reign in the increasing costs of workers’ compensation. Although it remains to be seen whether the measure will achieve the projected up-front savings of $5.3 billion and annual savings of about $5 billion, the changes are far-reaching […]
In the May issue of California Employer Advisor we reported on a case, Reynolds v. Bement, where a court ruled that a supervisor could be held individually liable for unpaid overtime due to a worker. The case was recently taken under review by the state’s highest court. We’ll be watching to see how the court […]
Gov. Davis recently signed AB 276, which doubles the penalties for certain labor law violations, including the failure to pay wages.
In addition to the workers’ compensation bill discussed in this Bulletin, there are a number of other bills on Gov. Davis’s desk that could impact your employment practices. Here’s a quick summary of what they are: AB 1715 invalidates arbitration agreements affecting employment claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act that are made a […]