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Work Opportunity Tax Credit 101

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is designed to be an incentive for employers to hire people who frequently face difficulty finding employment. As the name implies, this incentive is in the form of a tax credit. As such, it is administered by both the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). […]

Hiring Temps And Independent Contractors: Employers Brace For Fallout From New Microsoft Ruling; How To Avoid Owing Benefits

The federal appeals court covering California ruled several years ago that software giant Microsoft Corp. had to pay certain retroactive employee benefits to workers improperly classified as independent contractors. Now, the same court has made clear that its earlier ruling will require Microsoft to provide millions of dollars in stock-purchase rights not only to contractors, […]

Flex Arrangements—Outmoded Laws Are the Chokehold

Flexible Workplace Arrangements (FWAs) are more and more attractive and much easier to manage with today’s technologies, says attorney David Fortney, but the laws that govern them were passed long before the technologies existed, and that can make management difficult. Fortney is a co-founder of law firm Fortney & Scott, LLC in Washington, DC, and […]

Almost Royal: How Not to Conduct an Interview

The BBC’s faux reality show, Almost Royal, follows the lives of British aristocrat siblings, Poppy and Georgie Carlton as they tour the United States with their father’s ashes in tow. After their father’s untimely demise from a shooting accident, this brother-sister duo travel across the Atlantic to tour the country that their father loved in accordance […]

An Invitation to Share Your E-Pinion with a Few of Your Colleagues (About 155,000, Actually)

How many times have you had strong feelings about something in HR that you wanted to share with your colleagues? Well, here’s your chance to do it. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know it’s usually written by BLR’s founder and CEO Bob Brady. Bob’s “e-pinions” have crisscrossed the wide world of […]

OFCCP’s Proposed Hiring Goals: What’s the Latest?

February 7 marks the end of the public comment period on the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) proposed rule that would set a goal for federal contractors to have seven percent of their workforce be made up of people with disabilities. With the calendar nearing the comment deadline, it’s time for employers with […]

Detroit bankruptcy: a new path

by Robert M. Vercruysse Detroit is leading the pack again. Unfortunately, the ignominious trail the Motor City is blazing leads to federal bankruptcy. Although Detroit is the largest U.S. city to take this path to date, the financial difficulties it hopes to solve are hardly unique in recent years. Detroit’s experience could establish a workable […]

You’re the CSI: Will Your Investigation Meet a Jury’s Expectations?

If you carry out misconduct investigations, how good should they be? As good as the jury thinks they should be, say today’s experts. And that better be pretty good, because juries expect a lot from HR. Most organizations are not particularly sophisticated in their investigation policies and procedures, say attorneys Michael Soltis and Allison Bogosian, […]

News Flash: San Francisco Supervisors Pass Weight And Height Bias Law

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to enact a new law banning discrimination in employment and housing on the basis of weight and height. Mayor Willie Brown is expected to sign the law, which will then take effect in 30 days. Under the new rules, businesses that contract with the city and […]