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.
A new federal law now in effect says that if you offer mental health benefits, they must have the same aggregate lifetime and annual limits as medical benefits. The law applies to employers with 50 or more employees. There’s an exemption for employerswho can show the parity requirements will increase their costsby more than 1%. […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has clarified the rules for when employers can poll unionized workers about their support for the union.The case involved a Mack Truck dealership that had recently changed ownership. Several employees allegedly made statements to the new employer indicating they did not want to be part of the existing union. When the […]
A new California law requires you to give employees who are victims of a crime at work written notice informing them they are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits for their injuries, including psychiatric problems. The notice generally must be provided within one working day of the crime and delivered personally or by first-class mail.
In a controversial decision last year, a California Court of Appealruled that you can discharge high-earning employees over age 40and replace them with lower-paid workers, provided your motivationis to save money and not discriminate against older employees. The California Supreme Court recentlyrefused to review the ruling. But now, two important proposalsare pending in Sacramento that would, […]
Although many employers don’t realize it, you can be sued for wrongful termination even if the person quit instead of being fired. That’s because employees can claim they were ‘constructively discharged’ when working conditions become so intolerable that a reasonable person would be compelled to quit. In one recent case, a 56-year-old country club secretary, […]
President Clinton’s sweeping $21.7 billion child care initiative includes $500 million in tax incentives to encourage employers to provide more employer-sponsored child care. Under the plan, which is still subject to Congressional approval, employers would get a 25% tax credit for building or expanding child care facilities. Several other bills are pending in Congress which […]
An employee who was discovered playing golf while collecting workers’ compensation payments has pleaded no contest to insurance fraud and could face jail time. William LaForge, who was just a few months away from retirement, injured his back when he fell on the steps outside the Daly City high school where he had been an […]
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) has laid out a series of labor proposals for the coming year. They include expanding the federal family leave law to cover employers with as few as 10 workers; requiring employers to contribute to the cost of health insurance for employees and their families; and increasing the federal minimum wage by […]
An employee who is being sexually harassed may want to keep matters private because of embarrassment or fear of retribution. She might complain to you, but refuse to reveal names or ask that you not disclose anything she told you. Or you might hear about the harassment from a concerned co-worker because the victim doesn’t […]
Over the past several years, employers have increasingly turned to staffing firms such as temporary agencies and employee leasing companies to supply workers. And according to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), many of these so-called ‘contingent’ workers are female and/or minorities. Employers often mistakenly assume that because temps or other contract workers aren’t […]