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.

Retaliation Lawsuits: Terminated Workers Awarded $870,000 For Objecting To Employers’ Marketing Methods; What The Employer Did Wrong

Scott McFetters was a salesman in the Orange County office of Amplicon Inc., a computer leasing company. When the firm started using a new lease arrangement called an ABC lease, McFetters objected because he thought it wasn’t fair to customers. What happened next resulted in a $870,000 verdict for McFetters against Amplicon, which was recently […]

Pension Plans: You Can Be Sued If Your Plan’s Insurer Goes Broke; 4 Tips For Making The Right Decisions

When RJR Nabisco decided to terminate an overfunded pension program, it purchased an annuity from an insurance company to cover its obligations to beneficiaries and plan participants. RJR then sold the pension fund’s assets, netting RJR more than $43 million. But the insurance company it chose to issue the annuity, Executive Life Insurance Company of […]

Hiring Foreign Workers: Congress Ups Quota For H-1B Visas; Practical Impact

Grappling with a chronic shortage of computer programmers and other skilled workers, the high-tech industry successfully lobbied long and hard for an expansion of the H-1B visa program. Employers should face fewer delays in hiring foreign professionals now that Congress has raised the annual limit on H-1B work visas and changed the rules to make […]

Disability Discrimination: New Legislation Strengthens Worker Protections

Gov. Davis has signed into law a sweeping measure, A.B. 2222, that strengthens the disability discrimination protections for California employees. Because the new law—which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2001—could bring a flood of new disability-bias lawsuits, it’s more important than ever to use caution when handling accommodation issues.

At-Will Employment: Supreme Court Clarifies Termination Rights, But Personnel Policies Can Limit Your Options; 3 Ways To Protect Yourself

Some employees have tried to get around their at-will status by claiming long service and repeated promotions created an implied agreement that they would only be terminated for good cause. Now the California Supreme Court has made clear that this argument won’t fly. However, the court left the door open for a person’s at-will employment […]

News Flash: Workplace Legislation Update

There is a lot of important new legislation affecting the workplace that Gov. Davis has signed into law. As the final hour for approving legislation approached, the governor vetoed bills to increase workers’ comp benefits, boost unemployment payments, expand leave for family and medical care, ban secret monitoring of employee e-mail and computer records, and […]