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Health And Safety: Injury Rates In California Drop To Record Low

Workplace injuries and illnesses in California continue to decline, falling from 6.7 injuries for every 100 workers in 1998 to an all-time low of 6.3 per 100 workers in 1999, according to figures just released by the state Department of Industrial Relations. Of the nonfatal illnesses reported, 56% were disorders associated with repetitive stress. The […]

New Sick Leave Legislation: Review Your Policies Now

  A law enacted several years ago permits employees to use up to one-half of their accrued sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner. Now new legislation, S.B. 1471, signed by Gov. Davis, makes it illegal for an absence control policy to count sick leave taken under […]

What do recent changes in the Canadian Parliament mean for businesses?

by Brian Smeenk Much has been happening on the political front in Canada in the past two weeks. It has kept us spellbound, but all the politics has certainly not advanced the government’s economic agenda. On Monday, December 1, the three opposition parties in the federal Parliament announced that they had formed a coalition and […]

Feds Push to Publicize Exchanges in Wake of Unpreparedness Charges

More than a month after Max Baucus, D-Mont., an early proponent of health reform, said the implementation of state-based health insurance marketplaces was going so poorly that a “train wreck” would ensue, the Obama administration is now launching a public relations effort aimed at teaching consumers how to buy marketplace coverage. Marketplaces are supposed to […]

Wage and Hour: IT Company Pays Millions for H1-B Wage Violations

Patni Computer Systems, Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts has agreed to shell out over $2.4 million to settle allegations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division that Patni underpaid computer professionals employed under the H-1B visa program. The settlement proceeds will be shared by 607 workers employed between January 2004 and December […]

News Notes: Free Posters Available On New Labor Department Web Page

The federal Department of Labor has launched a new Web page to help employers comply with posting requirements for a number of federal laws. By answering a series of questions, you can determine which federal posters you must display and then print them directly from the Internet. The Web page also lists who to contact […]

Heated Political ‘Debates’—Can You Control them at Work?

It’s that time again; employers and their employees are getting ready to vote. It is an exciting time that engenders a good deal of discussion—and probably some arguments—at coffee machines and in lunchrooms. As with many areas of employment law, a patchwork quilt of federal and state laws governs the employer interface with political issues. […]

Race Harassment: EEOC Charges Harassment At Group Home

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has stepped in to file a lawsuit accusing Catholic Charities of firing an African-American case manager after he complained about racially offensive treatment. Keith Bogard claimed that because of his race he was given undesirable assignments at a Catholic Charities group home in San Francisco. He also charged that staff […]

Supreme Court Sides with Workers in FLSA Wage Dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled unanimously that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay workers who are required to don protective gear on the employer’s premises for the time it takes the employees to walk between the changing and production areas. The court also decided, however, that employers need not compensate employees for […]