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.
You know you may have an obligation to accommodate a disabled employee or risk a lawsuit for disability discrimination. But you might not be aware that in California you can also be sued for discriminating against workers with certain medical conditions–even if they are notdisabled and do not need an accommodation. That’s what happened recently […]
With more companies turning to temporary and leased employees to meet staffing needs, some tricky legal issues can come up. For example, employees are only eligible for family leave after they’ve worked for you for 12 months. But what if a person spent some of that time as a temp through an employment agency? According […]
A California appellate court has upheld a hefty jury award to an employee who was fired for purportedly stealing a soft drink from his employer’s convenience store. The termination came just hours after the employee testified against the company in a co-worker’s unemployment hearing—suggesting the real reason for the firing was the testimony, not the […]
A court has decided that an employer who granted federal family leave to someone who wasn’t qualified to take it can later correct its mistake, despite a government regulation that says otherwise. The employer in the case had told a pregnant worker, Susan Seaman, that she was entitled to family leave, but it turned out […]
Legislation is pending in Washington that would treat certain employees who perform inside sales work the same as outside salespeople when it comes to overtime pay. Inside sales personnel are currently entitled to overtime after 40 hours of work in a week. However, a bill making its way through the House of Representatives would exempt […]
In what may be the first jury award involving an employer’s English-only policy, an employee for Baccarat Inc. has won $500,000 in damages after claiming that she was fired for speaking Spanish. Irma Rivera worked as a saleswoman at one of Baccarat’s showrooms. After a new company president took over, Rivera alleged that she was […]
Republicans in Congress have said they will support a budget increase for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission—but there’s a catch. They’re demanding that the agency promise to stop using undercover “testers” who pose as job applicants for the sole purpose of scoping out whether your hiring practices are legal. The lawmakers also want to […]
When you ask an employee to sign an employment termination agreement in exchange for severance benefits or other payments, you probably include language making clear that the agreement supersedes any prior understandings there may have been between you and the employee. But a new case suggests this commonly used provision has some significant hidden risks—and […]
Some employers pay little attention to dirty jokes, horseplay and locker room antics among male co-workers. But a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling makes it more important than ever to take a closer look at this kind of behavior. The court found that alleged sexual abuse of a male oil rig worker by his male […]
An employee has been griping about your business practices almost from his first day of work. He shares his concerns with co-workers and then threatens to tell one of your clients about the problems. Before letting that happen, you decide to terminate him. Were you within your rights? According to a new ruling, the answer […]