Quick, Name Biggest Workplace Legal Issue of 2010 So Far
(September 7, 2010)
What is the biggest employment law challenge employers have been facing thus far in 2010? An easy answer might be health care reform since companies have indeed started wrestling with whether to grandfather their benefits plans or strike off in a new direction under new sets of rules and regulations. But for many employment law attorneys who will be speaking at the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium this fall, there is an even thornier situation causing more pressing problems for employers. Read on to get a sneak peek at their insights. Read on
Why Companies Aren’t Hiring
(September 3, 2010)
The headlines have been full of stories about unemployment, the so-called "jobless recovery," and lately we’ve been hearing about a potential double-dip recession. So when a colleague suggested I tackle the subject of why businesses aren’t hiring, I figured I could throw in my two cents. First let’s talk about unemployment. As of July 2010, the most recent month for which statistics are available as I write this, the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.5%. That’s 14.6 million people who are unemployed. And many argue that the true unemployed number is much higher and that the 14.6 million counted by the BLS are only those who continue to actively look for work. Read on
Hurricanes, Floods, and Other Disasters Don't Stop Employers' Legal Obligations in the Workplace
(September 3, 2010)
Just because a disaster affects your organization doesn't mean your legal obligations in the workplace are put on hold. With (1) Hurricane Earl barreling toward the East Coast and at least two more hurricanes behind it, (2) another oil rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico, and (3) a terrible hostage situation at the Discovery Channel's headquarters, it's a good time to check your disaster plan and make sure your company is ready for the legal obligations it will face before, during, and after a major emergency situation.
Here are a few related articles from Louisiana Employment Law Letter -- written after the attorney editors themselves were displaced from their New Orleans offices by Hurricane Katrina. The latter two articles focus on what the editors helped clients deal with before and after Katrina. Read on
New Massachusetts Law Changes Employer Obligations for Personnel Records
(September 3, 2010)
Governor Deval Patrick recently signed the Massachusetts Economic Development Bill into law. The law, which is retroactively effective to August 1, includes some well-known provisions that authorize a new state sales tax holiday and grant tax breaks for certain businesses. The bill, however, also contains several lesser-known provisions, including one that heavily affects employers. Buried more than 100 pages into the Economic Development Bill is a modification of the state Personnel Records Statute that now requires employers to notify an employee when negative information is entered into his or her personnel record. Read on
Labor Day: September 6, 2010
(September 3, 2010)
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of 10,000 workers on September 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half the states were observing a "Labor Day" on one day or another, and Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday in 1894. Read on
Making Your HR Technology Case to the CFO
(September 3, 2010)
Only 8% of the CFOs who responded said they were "largely" or "highly" satisfied with their HR technology’s usefulness in quantifying the company’s return on human capital investments, according to a study conducted by CFO Research Services in collaboration with Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The authors of the study, "Human capital management: The CFO’s Perspective," go on to paint an even gloomier picture, writing, "Historically, there’s been little love lost between finance and HR in most companies." And to top it all off and bring it together, they assert that "the changing business landscape makes it necessary for these two areas to come together in new, more-collaborative ways." Read on
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