Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Susan Fahey Desmond Well, here it is — the Health Care Reform and Control Act. Beginning January 1, 2014, every individual will be required to have “minimum essential coverage” through individual market, employer-provided or certain other coverage (e.g., Medicare or CHIP). Also, beginning January 12, 2014, any employer who employed an average of 50 […]
Noncompete agreements, once exclusively for highly paid execs, are now being used with even blue collar workers. Are they useful? Are they legal? How do you keep them that way? Here’s the information you need. It seemed a simple enough transaction. The sports broadcasting network, ESPN, had decided to change security service vendors. One company […]
By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR Editor, HR Daily Advisor What will the biggest challenges of 2011 be for HR managers? One thing is sure—it’s going to be an interesting year. We’d like to find out what your particular concerns are . In 2010, the challenges facing HR were as big as ever. You faced: Workers […]
In a long-awaited decision, the California Supreme Court has unanimously held that California-based employers must pay overtime to certain nonresident employees who spend time working full days or weeks in the state – and that the failure to do so can provide the basis for a claim under the state unfair competition law (Sullivan v. […]
The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently tossed out a mandatory arbitration agreement signed by a Circuit City employee because it was unduly lopsided in the employer’s favor (see CEA March 2002). But in another case involving identical arbitration provisions, the court has ruled that employee Mohammad Sharfuddin Ahmed was required to arbitrate his […]
The Obama Administration’s proposed 2013 budget includes funding to hire 92 additional Wage and Hour Division investigators. The budget would allocate $6.4 million to hire investigators to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, said Nancy Leppink, acting WHD administrator during a webchat on Monday. The funding would allow […]
The federal Transportation Department’s announcement banning texting by drivers of commercial vehicles is sure to make employers think twice about their policies even if they don’t have trucks or buses on the road. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made the announcement January 26 that an interpretation of standing rules prohibits texting by drivers of commercial […]
By Heather Knox The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that interprets and enforces employment discrimination laws, recently considered whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects transgender employees from workplace discrimination. The case involved an employee who claimed she wasn’t hired by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and […]
By Jason Lacey Foulston Siefkin LLP The legal underpinnings of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on healthcare reform are complex, but the bottom line is very clear for employers: Nothing has changed. The law that went into effect March 23, 2010 (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), and has been in effect ever since, remains […]
A newly introduced bill would require the U.S. Department of Labor to follow a rule it wants to impose on federal contractors. DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is in the final stages of a rulemaking that would require federal contractors to aim to have workers with disabilities make up 7 percent of their […]