Day: January 15, 2014

Affirmative Action Regs: What Federal Contractors Need to Do by March 2014

Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 seeks to reduce discrimination against individuals with disabilities by requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to have affirmative action plans (AAPs) for hiring disabled individuals. VEVRAA – the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act – does the same thing for veterans. Both of these regulations have been beefed […]

Compensation Litigation: Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Are Figuring It Out

FLSA litigation is heating up, and partly for that reason, it’s low-hanging fruit for plaintiffs’ attorneys. Brinkerhoff, who is an associate in the law firm Holland & Hart LLP in Las Vegas, offered tips on wage/hour compliance at the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium, held recently in Las Vegas. To add insult to injury, about 50 […]

Are Your Employees Trained in Essential First Aid?

Picture this: A worker is hurt in an accident and blood is gushing from the wound. One of your employees chokes on a piece of food and can’t breathe. Someone goes into cardiac arrest right at his workstation. Would your employees be ready to act with speed and competence in a workplace medical emergency? They […]

Is the Next Employee Training Topic ‘How to Deal with Drug Dealers’?

Last week we wrote about a blunt finding its way into a customer’s burger. This week, we’re bringing you another restaurant story about drugs changing hands, this time in the other direction, customer to waitress. According to an article in The Oregonian, a couple was dining at a steakhouse restaurant and was closing the tab. […]

‘CEO’ Simplifies Dress Code; Wins Best Dressed Award

While CEOs are often known to wear expensive attire to project the correct power image, one international “CEO” decided not to dress like his predecessors but to continue on with his own simple personal style. In the process, he won the 2013 Best Dressed Man of the Year award from Esquire magazine—and sent a message […]

Two Employees Fired for Not Participating in Scientology, Lawsuit Claims

A Miami company that provides medical and chiropractic services, has agreed to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit that claimed it required certain employees to spend at least half their work days in courses that involved Scientology religious practices, such as screaming at ashtrays or staring at someone for 8 hours without moving. The lawsuit was […]

Latest Data Shows Rise in 401(k) Assets; Equities Still Dominate

The average 401(k) account balance at the end of 2012 was 8.4 percent higher than the year before, but increased assets weren’t typical for all defined contribution plan participants studied, according to a December 2013 brief by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. While equity investments through stock mutual funds comprised the bulk of 401(k) assets […]

Crystal Ball—HR Trends and Traps 2014

We had dramatic changes in HR in 2013 and that’s going to continue, says attorney Mark Schickman of Freeland Cooper & Forman LLP in San Francisco. However, he points out, quoting Sir Winston Churchill, “To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.” What Are the Big Changes for the 21st Century? […]

American Idol’s ‘cold-hearted’ background check practices

by Kylie Crawford TenBrook The new season of American Idol begins tonight. While viewers are getting acquainted with a new panel of judges and group of contestants, Fox attorneys are battling charges from former contestants.  In July, 10 black former American Idol contestants filed a 429-page discrimination complaint against Fox and the show’s production company […]