Common sense tells us that it is a good idea for certain companies – hospitals, physicians’ offices, nursing homes, day care centers, and more, to take appropriate measures to safeguard the health of both the workforce and any population it serves. By this logic, a policy requiring healthcare employees to receive flu shots seems reasonably calculated to protect employees and patrons, as well as to control the spread of communicable disease. But, is it legal?
Forget Sequestration: Here’s What You Need to Know About the OFCCP’s Expanded Compensation Investigation Procedures
A few days ago, I watched the PBS special, MAKERS: Women Who Make America, about the women’s movement and women’s struggles for equality at home and at work. The documentary highlighted the combined efforts of women across the country in their fight to eradicate gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and unequal pay in the work place. One thing that was particularly shocking was how members of the federal government in the past fought hard to maintain the status quo and keep women out of the workforce.
Oh, how times have changed.
New FMLA Regulations—Updated Poster Must Be Posted by March 8, 2013
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued new Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) regulations that will take effect on March 8, 2013. The new regulations expand the FMLA’s protections to provide families of eligible veterans the same job-protected leave available to families of service members, and expand leave opportunities for family members when a service member is deployed. Additionally, the regulations expand and clarify the application of the FMLA to airline personnel and flight crews.
President Re-Nominates Two Unconstitutional “Recess” Appointees to the NLRB and the SEIU May Have a Change of Heart
As discussed in the January 29, 2013 post below, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the Noel Canning decision that President Obama’s purported recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were constitutionally invalid. That decision has thrown into question each of the Board’s decisions since those appointments were made in January 2012, and employers, employees, and unions alike are anxious to have the matter resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The List: Making 2013 an HR Success – Part 2
The last post, Part 1, set forth the first five items on a wish list from an attorney’s perspective – specific ways in which a Human Resources department can minimize problems down the road. The final five items are just as important. Read on …
The List: Making 2013 an HR Success – Part 1
Human Resources professionals have a job that requires a great deal of effort – a good HR Manager will stay on top of developments in employment law; establish sound, consistent procedures for managing typical staff issues, such as leave requests, on-site injuries, and separation from employment; and cultivate good relationships between employees and management. From the other side of the phone line, however, comes a wish list from an attorney’s perspective – what the Human Resources department should consider doing to help minimize difficulty down the road and ensure as successful an HR year as possible.
HR Chat: 10 Questions with HR Law Matters
Name: Lisa Montgomery
Title: Human Resources Manager
Company: Rayonier
1. How many years have you been working in HR? It is hard to believe but it will be 30 years in June of this year. I spent 16 years with Amoco/BP in various locations and 14 years with Rayonier.
2. Favorite thing about working in HR? The variety – I have been an HR generalist in the field for 29 years after having escaped the corporate world after one year as a specialist.
3. Best piece of advice you ever received about a career in HR? With HR you can work in any industry so it opens up lots of possibilities.
Workplace Violence: Navigating the Minefield of Workplace Gun Laws
The horrific Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre has brought the gun control debate front and center. But gun violence is not just in our schools. In August, a former employee shot and killed a co-worker near the Empire State Building before being shot by police himself, and eight bystanders were injured in the shoot-out. A 30-person Minneapolis sign company was decimated in September when an employee who was discharged shot and killed six people, including the company’s founder and a UPS delivery driver, and wounded two others before taking his own life. In November, an Apple Valley Farms employee shot four co-workers at a chicken processing plant in Fresno, California, killing two of them, before turning the gun on himself. Not long after, a ConAgra Foods employee in Indianapolis fatally shot his co-worker outside a break room, then killed himself. Two other workplace violence incidents, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas (an employee fatally shot her co-worker) and Manteno, Illinois (an employee shot and wounded his co-worker), took place in July, 2012.
Reviewing the Biggest and Baddest Labor & Employment News of 2012
Despite expected legislative gridlock and election-year politics, 2012 turned out to be an exciting year for changes in the labor and employment law landscape. The headlines just kept coming. Some of the top stories were:
The EEOC’s Priorities, Guidance, and Enforcement Efforts for 2013 and, Maybe, Beyond
I recently attended a luncheon in which one of the Commissioners for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) spoke. According to this Commissioner, the EEOC has identified the following items as among its priorities:
- Bringing credit checks under the realm of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, and national origin, because of the credit checks’ disparate impact on minorities. [For more information about the EEOC’s concerns about this practice, click here.]