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 the latest example of the trend toward challenging the use of temporary workers by government and private employers, Ventura County’s largest labor union, the Service Employees International Union, has sued the county. The union charges that the county paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past year to temporary workers in clerical, maintenance […]
One day after employees voted to be represented by a union, Quadrtech Corp., which employs 118 minimum-wage jewelry assemblers at a Gardena factory, announced plans to move its operations to Mexico and lay off the workers. But a federal judge found that the timing of the move suggested it was an anti-union action and issued […]
A California Court of Appeal has thrown out a $307,000 verdict for an applicant who was turned down for a deputy sheriff job because he was colorblind. But as we’ll explain, the outcome might have been very different—and more costly for the employer—if the case had been decided under the new state anti-discrimination rules that […]
Following on the heels of a recent California Supreme Court ruling that approved mandatory arbitration agreements for employment disputes, California appellate courts continue to enforce arbitration provisions between employers and employees. In the latest case, a California Court of Appeal required the arbitration of an employment claim even though the employee had never signed an […]
Your chances of successfully defending yourself against harassment claims may be only as good as your company’s policy manual, according to a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.
It’s not news to employers that it is illegal to retaliate against an employee who complains about discrimination or harassment. However, in a new decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has expanded the range of what could be considered retaliatory. Employers can now be held liable not only for actions aimed at the complaining […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently issued new guidelines explaining how federal employment discrimination laws apply to employee benefits. Last month we examined the rules regarding age discrimination. This month we look at the EEOC guidelines dealing with disability and pregnancy discrimination.
A record damage award levied against a telephone company that tried to prevent operators from speaking Spanish to each other in the workplace underscores the risks of enforcing English-only policies. Faced with this increasingly common type of bias case, a federal court has concluded that the language restriction amounted to illegal discrimination based on national […]
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued controversial final ergonomics standards that are tougher than California’s current law. The final federal rule is scheduled to take effect Jan. 16, 2001. California will then have six months to adopt a similar standard.
Many employers make it a practice to periodically update their employee manuals and policies. But where do you stand if an employee objects to a new policy? In a recent case, a California Court of Appeal rejected a worker’s attempt to challenge a provision that was added to an employee handbook. More importantly, the court […]