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by Burton J. Fishman In 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against Kroger, the grocery chain, because it rejected an applicant for a “cashier, bagger, stocker” position in part because of a poor score on an orally administered “personality trait” test prepared by Kronos, Inc. The applicant had speech and hearing difficulties […]
by C. Edward Watson Q: Every year, the holiday season seems to get more stressful. On the one hand, I have a couple of employees who want to make everything about Christ. They insist on wishing everyone, including our customers, a merry Christmas rather than happy holidays or not saying anything. They claim that saying […]
By the time you’ve left the house for work, you’ve probably already done a fair amount of cleaning. You’ve wiped down the kitchen counter, thrown in a load of laundry, and washed your hands a couple of times. Then you get to work where, unfortunately, the cleaning stops and you spend 8 to 12 hours […]
Pay Budgets 2.5 to 3 Percent Our survey revealed that most employers offered modest pay increases in 2012 and will do so again in 2013. In 2011 the average “planned” merit increase for 2012 was 2.1%. Actual merit increases for 2012,s however, were higher than anticipated for the first time in at least two years, […]
Do you see an uptick of absences the day after your company holiday party? According to a recent survey, many times, alcohol is to blame for the missed day. According to a recent survey from Caron Treatment Centers, 64 percent of Americans have called in sick or know someone who has missed a day of […]
Here are two readers’ tales of applicants who failed during interviews. Story 1: Not Dressing (or Acting) the Part “I interviewed a young lady for a front desk position for a modern, well-established IT company. “The applicant came in smacking her gum wearing a bright orange micromini dress, bangles that clinked loudly, and basketball sneakers. […]
It should be easy to calculate FMLA leave time, but the devil is in the details, and FMLA’s details can be exasperating, to say the least. There are two keys to the intermittent/reduced leave calculation, says attorney Drew Alexis Alexis, Of Counsel at the Kinaga Law Firm in Los Angeles, offered his FMLA tips at […]
Just because it’s the holiday season does not mean employers can relax their vigilance on wage and hour issues. The U.S. Department of Labor has its own list of who’s been naughty or nice (by its standards), and employers that run afoul of the agency could find a lump of coal in their stocking. Yesterday, […]
Long a union stronghold, Michigan has become the latest state to pass right-to-work legislation. The fight, though, likely will rage on. State legislators on December 11 approved legislation that prohibits workplaces from requiring all employees to pay all union dues. The legislation was pushed by the Republican majority in the state legislature. On Tuesday afternoon, […]
To briefly review the case: The construction company in question builds and installs water supply and sewer pipes. On July 10, 2009, while the company was performing trenching work to install water service lines at a Boston worksite, an OSHA compliance officer arrived for an inspection. The officer found several safety violations along with conflicting […]