Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that the number of cases involving sexual harassment and retaliation is increasing. Retaliationclaims, the fastest-growing type of complaint filed with the EEOC, have gone up more than 77% between 1992 and 1999. A total of 11,096 retaliation charges were filed in 1992, but by 1999, the number had jumped […]
In July 2002, a law took effect restricting the display of consumer Social Security numbers (SSNs) by California businesses. Although the law wasn’t targeted at the workplace, it had implications for employers’ use and display of worker SSNs. On Jan. 1, 2004, a follow-up law will further limit SSN use in mailings. Here’s what you […]
Can you scrap the results of a job qualification test if you discover after administering it that the test may be racially biased? The U.S. Supreme Court is considering this issue right now.
An employee comes to you with a complaint of sexual harassment—or perhaps an allegation that a co-worker is violating company policy. Or maybe a worker reports that an expensive piece of equipment is dangerous and needs to be repaired. How you respond to these scenarios can make the crucial difference between a prompt resolution of […]
Unless you have spent this week on another planet, you have heard that the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing three days of arguments on the health care form law passed by Congress in 2010. The Court is expected to hand down a decision by the end of June. On Tuesday, day two of the hearings, […]
Yesterday, in one of its first rulings of 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that medical residents are considered employees when it comes to social security taxes. In Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. United States, Mayo challenged regulations issued by the Treasury Department that clarify what types of students are not […]
A bystander watched as a young commuter put on a last minute spurt but still missed the train. “If you’d run just a bit faster, you’d have caught it,” the observer sympathized. “No,” the young man gasped. “It wasn’t a case of running faster, but starting sooner!” People who don’t allow themselves extra time to […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has proposed regulations that would define “reasonable factor other than age” under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The need for these rules arises in the wake of the Smith v. City of Jackson decision, a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court addressed the appropriate […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady For years, BLR® has surveyed HR and benefits professionals to see what benefits they are actually offering to employees. This year, we are expanding our survey program by conducting a series of brief, targeted benefits surveys. The findings of these surveys are analyzed and presented free to all […]
After years of budget constraints left the thinly staffed agency struggling under a hefty workload, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has bounced back, causing headaches for many employers. During the 2010 fiscal year, which ended September 30, the EEOC received a record number of charges — nearly 100,000, the most in the agency’s 45-year […]