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.
Under California law, you can be automatically liable for harassment committed by your managers and supervisors even if you had no notice of the problem and did nothing wrong. But just who qualifies as a supervisor has long been a troubling and important question because your chances of being held responsible increase as more employees […]
A Wisconsin jury has awarded over $13 million in damages to a mentally retarded janitor who claimed he was fired because of his disability—the largest verdict ever in a case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC had filed suit on behalf of Donald Perkle, who worked […]
Employees will be able defer a maximum of $10,500 to their401(k) plans next year, rather than the $10,000 cap currently in effect, under newcost-of-living adjustments announced by the IRS that go into effect January 1. Inaddition, the maximum annual benefit that can be funded through a defined benefit planwill rise to $135,000 from $130,000, although […]
If you’re considering hiring minors to help out during the holiday season, be sure to double-check the rules. Toys ‘R’ Us has just agreed to pay $200,000 to settle Labor Department allegations that the toy retailer violated federal rules covering the employment of minors. The government charged that 14- and 15-year-olds were hired to work […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued new enforcement guidelines stating for the first time that federal anti-discrimination laws protect undocumented workers. According to the EEOC, illegal immigrants who are subjected to workplace discrimination, sexual harassment or retaliation can sue their employers and receive lost wages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. A court could also […]
The IRS has increased the mileage rate commonly used to reimburse employees for business use of a car from 31 cents to 32.5 cents per mile. The new rate applies to miles driven beginning January 1, 2000.
California law has long prohibited workplace discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. Now Governor Davis has expanded the law by inking new legislation that lets a pregnant worker sue if you refuse to grant a reasonable accommodation request.
One advantage of using independent contractors has traditionally been that you could not be sued for many employment-related disputes. But because Governor Davis has just signed a new law expanding harassment protections to independent contractors, you will now have to be more cautious in how you deal with them. The measure takes effect January 1, […]
A trial court has given the go-ahead to a class action overtime lawsuit by 2,300 California Taco Bell managers and assistant managers. The workers allege that they were misclassified as exempt employees and wrongfully denied overtime pay by the restaurant chain. They claim that they spent more than half of their working time performing nonmanagerial […]
California law forbids employers from taking any part of an employee’s tips. But a trial court has decided this rule didn’t prevent The Castaway restaurant in Burbank from withholding a portion of waiters’ tips that were paid with credit cards to help defray charge card transaction fees the restaurant had to pay. The state Labor […]