• Danger: Look What DOL Is Sharing with Your Company’s Friends -- and Foes
• Second Court Rules Health Care Reform Law Is Unconstitutional
• Winter Weather Wreaking Havoc on Employers
• Senate Votes Down Health Care Reform Repeal Legislation
• Union Statistics for 2010
• Accommodation Doesn’t Prevent Corporate Reorganization
• EEOC to Employers: Put Your Disabled Employees Back to Work
• For Best Results, Make E-Mails User-Friendly
• You've Got Rights: NLRB's Proposed Notice to Employees
• Doing Background Checks Correctly
• This Week on the Employers Forum

Danger: Look What DOL Is Sharing with Your Company’s Friends -- and Foes

Second Court Rules Health Care Reform Law Is Unconstitutional

Monday, January 31, another federal court -- the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida -- held that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is unconstitutional. More specifically, the court held that the individual health insurance mandate provision found in the PPACA, which would require most individuals to obtain health insurance or pay a fine, is unconstitutional, and since it can’t be severed from the PPACA as a whole, "the entire Act must be declared void." Read on

Winter Weather Wreaking Havoc on Employers

As winter-weary eyes eagerly watched to see if the groundhog would see his shadow, a large swath of the United States was paralyzed by record snow and ice forcing business closures, stranding traveling employees, knocking out power, and damaging buildings. This week, we've collected several articles we thought might help you deal with the current situation and prepare for future acts of Mother Nature. In the meantime we all hope that Punxsutawney Phil is an accurate weatherman since he did not see his shadow, which legend says means spring will be early.

• Pay, Time Off Issues for Office Closings Due to Inclement Weather
• Primer on Travel Time Pay for Workers
  
• Keeping Your Company Afloat after Flood, Oil Spill, Hurricane, or Terrorism
  
• Disaster Preparedness Checklist for Employers: Part 1
  
• Disaster Preparedness Checklist for Employers: Part 2
  

Did You Know...

A Yale University study revealed that weight discrimination occurs in the workplace as often as racial discrimination. So does this mean obesity is now considered a disability?

Interpreting the ADA Amendments Act, the EEOC is taking the position that firing someone because of obesity is unlawful discrimination based on new definitions for certain impairments. Participate in the all-new HR Hero audio conference Weight-Based Discrimination: How to Align Policies with New EEOC Enforcement to learn more.

Coming Tuesday, February 15. Read on

Senate Votes Down Health Care Reform Repeal Legislation

On Wednesday, February 2, the U.S. Senate voted 51-47 against a largely symbolic amendment that would repeal the health care reform legislation enacted last year. (The amendment was to an unrelated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding bill.) Senate Republicans unanimously backed the amendment, which would have repealed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), but no Democrats voted in favor of the measure. Read on

Union Statistics for 2010

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its 2010 report on labor unions. The most important statistic for many is overall union membership, i.e., the percentage of wage and salary workers who were members of a union. Union membership in 2010 was 11.9%, down from 12.3% in 2009. Other highlights from the report: Read on

Accommodation Doesn’t Prevent Corporate Reorganization

It’s a common question. A Canadian employer is restructuring and an absent employee is affected. Can the employer fire the employee if he or she is on disability or other leave? A recent Federal Court of Canada decision, Tutty v. MTS Allstream Inc., has confirmed that the answer is "yes." Read on

EEOC to Employers: Put Your Disabled Employees Back to Work

In the last month, the EEOC has received media attention for litigation involving the employer’s obligation to return employees to work at the end of leave. Early in January, the EEOC announced the settlement of a class action against Supervalu in the amount of $3.2 million. That case involved allegations that the employer had a "policy and practice" of terminating employees with disabilities at the end of their medical leaves, instead of bringing them back to work with reasonable accommodation. Supervalu denied the allegations, stating that it had an effective return to work program, but wanted to settle the matter. Read on

For Best Results, Make E-Mails User-Friendly

Chances are you probably use e-mail to handle much, if not most, of your business communications. But have you ever gotten lost in the back and forth of an e-mail that is the result of hitting "reply all" multiple times? Have you been turned off by someone using their business e-mail in a very unprofessional way? Read on

You've Got Rights: NLRB's Proposed Notice to Employees

Employers should be aware that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has proposed a new regulation that would require employers to post a notice informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRB has provided a fact sheet that answers some basic questions about the proposed regulation. Under the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which was issued on December 22, 2010, employers would be required to post a notice that included information on employees’ rights under the NLRA, and conduct by employers and unions that is illegal under the NLRA. Read on

Doing Background Checks Correctly

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) places several obligations on employers that use third-party providers to perform background checks on prospective and current employees. Compliance with FCRA requirements is important because employers can be subject to civil liability for merely negligent violations. And with the potential for increased hirings in 2011 and the prevalent use of background checks in the hiring process, it's necessary to understand how to perform an effective and lawful search for relevant hiring information at the beginning of the new year. Read on

The Employers Forum is an HR discussion board where HR practitioners can ask questions and share their experience and insight. The Employers Forum includes sections on general HR; FMLA/ADA/Workers Comp; Wage and Hour; and HR Documents.

The following are some of the new threads on the Employers Forum.

• Federal Contractor
  
• Employee Expense Reimbursement
  
• Radio Hosts Encouraging Employees to be on Facebook at Work
  
• FMLA for Adult Child
  
• Foster Care/Adoption FMLA
  
• FMLA for Spouses Who Work for Same Company
  
• One More Time...
  
• HSA Conundrum
  
• Tuition Reimbursement and Financial Assistance
  
• It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .
  

Want to join the forum? The Employers Forum can be viewed by anyone, but to post a question or to respond to a post, you must be a current subscriber and/or customer who has purchased a product or attended a paid event from HR Hero within the last 12 months. This does not include free e-zine subscriptions. The Employers Forum is also open to subscribers to HRLaws.com.

Register for the Employers Forum

Puerto Rican law is significantly more employee-friendly than many employers understand, which often means that a small workplace dispute blows up into a major employment lawsuit.

Employers contemplating business operations in Puerto Rico and those already operating there need to understand the complexities of the laws and how to reduce the risk of legal liability.

Learn how to avoid red tape and effectively do business in Puerto Rico by participating in the all-new audio conference, Doing Business in Puerto Rico: Employment at Will, Payroll, and Other Policy Differences.

This audio conference is coming
Tuesday, February 8

For more information call
(800) 274-6774 or visit: www.hrhero.com

Please mention CONFERENCE
CODE HLT when calling.

Training without leaving your office

02/08/2011
Doing Business in Puerto Rico: Employment at Will, Payroll, and Other Policy Differences

02/09/2011
Workforce Planning 2011: Assess Talent, Reconnect Burnt-Out Employees, and Rescue Poor Performers

02/15/2011
Weight-Based Discrimination: How to Align Policies with New EEOC Enforcement

02/22/2011
Accommodating Medical Marijuana at Work: New Legal Challenges for HR

02/24/2011
New Financial Reform Law and HR: Whistleblower Protections and Bounty Hunter Incentives

03/08/2011
Employees with Cancer: Responding to ADA, FMLA, Privacy & Policy Issues

03/09/2011
GINA Now a Reality: How to Comply with New Genetic Discrimination Regs

03/16/2011
Ready, Set, Lead: Transitioning Doers into New Supervisors

0317/2011
What to Save, What to Shred: What New Laws Say About Personnel Files

The following states have issued recent updates to your mandatory state
workplace posters:

Ever wonder if you are handling human resources and employment law situations correctly? Take these HRhero quizzes to see how you would handle certain situations.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Attendance policies

Bird flu precautions

Disaster planning (including swine flu)

Documentation

Dress codes

Electronic workplace

Employee cell phone use - new

Employee leave

Employee privacy

Flu season

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Fair Pay Act

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Family responsibility discrimination

FMLA regulation changes

Harassment

Health care reform

Job descriptions

Military families leave

National origin discrimination

Odors, thermostats, and refrigerators

Overtime

Performance evaluations

Personnel

Pregnant employees

Privacy rights and HR information

Problem employees

Researching applicants and employees

Religious discrimination

Social media

Summer workers

Telecommuting and H1N1 flu

Terminations

Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964

USERRA

Wage and hour

Workplace violence