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Articles by J. d.
Winning Office Lottery Pools: See You in Court
What happens if employees enter an office lottery pool, defy the long odds and win the lottery—most recently at $1.6 billion for Mega Millions and $620 million for Powerball? Often the co-workers or their colleagues sue each other. We've gathered articles on office lottery pools from SHRM Online and other trusted media outlets. Lawsuits over winning workplace lottery pool tickets abound.
Are Supervisors Who Earn Less than Subordinates Eligible for Overtime Pay?
What would happen if a supervisor made less money than his or her employees? Would the supervisor be eligible for overtime pay? Wage and hour attorneys have different opinions on that topic, but they do agree on one thing: It would be difficult to get employees to move up to supervisor jobs if that would mean they'd make less money. The situation happens more often than you'd think.
Don’t Require Employees to Keep Written Warnings Confidential
Trying to discourage workplace gossip by prohibiting employees from discussing their written disciplinary warnings usually isn't a good idea on the part of employers, employment attorneys say. Jay Hux, an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Chicago, has seen written warnings that state discipline should be kept confidential. These statements should be stricken, he said, as they may violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
How to Make Your Careers Website Usable for People with Disabilities
Regardless of whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or state law requires careers portals to be accessible, many employers want their careers websites to be so that they can recruit people with disabilities—a talent pool that could help employers fill jobs more quickly in the tight labor market. To achieve this goal, these businesses should not only strive to meet technical standards but make quick fixes and implement website-accessibility policies.
Is Mere Existence of Anti-Harassment Policy Enough to Win Disputes?
Judges may be prone to dismiss harassment claims against companies that have anti-harassment policies, recent research indicates, but companies shouldn't rely on that to get them off the hook if they are faced with a claim. Attorneys advise their clients to do all they can to avoid the claim in the first place, including training to prevent harassment and investigating claims impartially.
Can People with Disabilities Use Your Careers Website?
A company's jobs or careers webpage is often the way potential job candidates first learn about the organization's mission, opportunities and culture. But if the site is not accessible to people with disabilities because of the way it is designed, then employers may run the risk of alienating a large pool of candidates or being liable for discrimination.
Potential Job Applicants Sue Companies with Difficult Online Forms
Employers may believe their careers portals are accessible when they aren't, noted Joseph Lynett, an attorney with Jackson Lewis in White Plains, N.Y. Making careers websites accessible will be particularly important under emerging law if that's the exclusive way to apply for jobs with an employer, he predicted. Businesses should at least make sure their websites are accessible to individuals using screen readers, he added.
WHAT'S THE LAW: The case of the void vote
Benny, confined to a funny farm, was not only declared to be insane, he also was crazy about politics and politicians. Consequently, when November approached, he wrote for and received an absentee ballot. After he voted, however, it was learned that he had been adjudged insane and court proceedings were immediately commenced to revoke his ballot."By statue," the judge was reminded, "only sane people are entitled to vote in an election.
Pacing: The Chronically Ill Person's Best Friend
Reprinted with the kind permission of Toni Bernhard. Pacing refers to spacing out your activities during the day so that you’re able to stay within the limits of what your body can handle without exacerbating your symptoms. Another way to think of it is that pacing is a way to keep you inside your “energy envelope”—the envelope that contains your energy stores for any given day.
What Managers Need to Know About the FMLA
The role that managers play in Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) compliance doesn't have to be complex, so why do managers so often fail to alert HR to employees' FMLA leave requests and intermittent leave misuse? Failure to understand their role in FMLA compliance efforts may be why. HR can get them up to speed.
Try Harassment Audits as a Change Agent
Forward-thinking companies are looking at the #MeToo movement as a chance to improve their corporate culture. Harassment audits—a combination of culture surveys, identification of harassment risk factors and recommended changes—can help employers weed out inappropriate conduct. And just in time: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has recovered $70 million in sexual-harassment litigation so far in 2018, compared to $47.5 million last year.
WHAT'S THE LAW: The case of the ultimate battle weapon
Martha and Bertha, who lived opposite each other in an apartment house, agreed upon only one thing -- they disliked each immensely. So much so, they developed their own tactics to make life as miserable for the other as possible.For example, Martha gave Bertha's little son a drum and a whistle to keep things loud and raucous in Bertha's apartment. Bertha would ring Martha's doorbell in the middle of the night.
DOL Extends PAID Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a six-month extension of its Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program on Oct. 9. Under the program, employers may cooperate with the DOL to voluntarily correct errors they discover that violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The pilot program, which launched earlier this year, was originally slated to last for six months. It has been well received by employers and employees alike, according to DOL testimonials about it.
WHAT'S THE LAW: The case of the purposely misleading card
Harry had a tough day at the office, but it wasn't nearly as tough as when he got home from work that night. His wife, standing in front of him -- with glaring eyes and folded arms -- handed him a postal card that read:"Dear Harry-Will be in town Monday.
WHAT'S THE LAW: The case of the kibitzing parrot
Emma loved the game of bridge with even more passion than Anthony loved Cleopatra. Unfortunately, her neighbor's parrot Bruno also shared her passion for the game of bridge, and whenever Emma and her foursome would deal out cards, Bruno couldn't resit the temptation to "kibitz" from across the narrow alleyway that separated the two apartments.The payoff came one afternoon when Emma trumped her partner's ace, which in the game of bridge was worse than committing murder.
WHAT"S THE LAW: The case of the unsuccessful weaklings
Lem and Abner set out to pull off a big heist, one night, that turned out to be a weighty one instead of a big one. Their target was a safe which they knew contained $85,000 in the home office of the Hernia Corporation.As hard as they tugged and pulled on the safe, however, for two sweaty hours, the safe proved too heavy for them to move more than six feet.
WHAT'S THE LAW: The case of the abused secretary
The only thing corporate employee Homer couldn't resist was temptation. Consequently, when Daisy-Mae -- a beautiful curvaceous secretary -- entered a corporate storeroom one afternoon, Homer followed her into the store and, before she could say she was not that kind of girl, she was -- Homer had his way with her.
The case of the abused secretary
The only thing corporate employee Homer couldn't resist was temptation. Consequently, when Daisy-Mae -- a beautiful curvaceous secretary -- entered a corporate storeroom one afternoon, Homer followed her into the store and, before she could say she was not that kind of girl, she was -- Homer had his way with her.
WHAT'S THE LAW: The case of the ruined reputation artist
Michael Annjello was a sculptor of great self-esteem.
OFCCP Guidance Clarifies Valid Pay Equity Factors
Compensation disparities among federal contractors may not be due to discriminatory factors such as gender or race, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) noted in recent guidance that rescinded a prior directive.
FMLA Forms Extended Through August 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced that its Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) certification forms and notices are valid for three more years, until Aug. 31, 2021. DOL didn't make any substantive changes to the forms, other than to announce the new expiration date, notes Epstein Becker Green. These certifications and notices are: We've gathered articles from SHRM Online and other trusted media outlets on the forms. Employers don't have to use these forms, though they often do.
Kevin Rudd
Australia would like you to think that it is a vast outback, populated primarily by kangaroos and koala bears and men with large knives and other men with larger knives who refuse to acknowledge that the men with less-large knives even have knives at all. In other words, an antipodean frontier country being tamed by the descendants of convicts. The truth, sadly, is a little different. Australia is one of the most urban countries on the planet on a per-capita basis. Kangaroos do not actually exist.
Be Ready for More ACA Penalties
The recent barrage of letters sent by the IRS proposing penalties under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may be petering out, but a new round is expected later this year. Employers need to be prepared. Several lessons can be learned from the more than 300,000 proposed-penalty letters sent by the IRS this summer and late last year for alleged violations of the ACA's employer mandate in 2015.
Pearce Renominated to NLRB Despite Business Leaders’ Concerns
President Donald Trump renominated Mark Gaston Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Aug. 28, in apparent deal-making with Capitol Hill Democrats to get Republican nominees through the Senate. Members of the business community have criticized Pearce, a Democrat and former chairman of the NLRB under the Obama administration, for positions he took while leading the board.
DOL Pens New Opinion Letters
One of the opinion letters that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Aug. 28 determined that employers don't have to pay employees for time spent voluntarily attending benefit fairs and certain wellness activities, including biometric screenings. "An employer should always emphasize the voluntary nature of participation of wellness activities and not get engaged in how those activities are run," said Gerald Hathaway, an attorney with Drinker Biddle in New York City.
Senate Spending Bill Would Affect Workplace in Several Ways
Funding for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) would remain flat in a spending package passed by the Senate on Aug. 23, and the DOL and the Education Department would be funded separately--despite talk earlier this year of combining the two departments. The appropriations bill would also fund the Defense and Health and Human Services departments.
Demotions Can Often Lead to Departures but Also to Fresh Starts
More than half (52 percent) of demoted employees quit, a recent survey shows, but demotions can offer workers new opportunities, with HR's assistance. Forty-six percent of HR professionals have witnessed a demotion at their company, according to Aug. 9 research from staffing firm OfficeTeam. More than 1 in 10 workers, or 14 percent, have been asked to assume a lower-level role. Men were demoted more frequently than women—19 percent compared to 7 percent.
Austin Paid-Sick-Leave Ordinance Temporarily Suspended
The Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) challenge of the paid-sick-leave law in Austin, Texas, resulted in the ordinance being put on hold on Aug. 17 while the Texas state appeals court reviews the arguments against it. "Austin, and now San Antonio, are pursuing ordinances mandating paid sick leave within their city limits.
3 Steps to Minimize Risks with Auto-Deducted Meal Breaks
Auto-deductions for nonexempt employees' meal breaks can be less risky if employers take these three steps: The safest way for an employer to ensure that it satisfies its obligations to pay hourly employees for all time worked is to require nonexempt workers to clock in and out not only at the beginning and end of each shift or workday but also at the start and finish of each meal break, said Adriana Kosovych, an attorney with Epstein Becker Green in New York City.
NLRB May Grant Employers More Leeway in Restricting E-Mail Usage
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is considering overruling a case, Purple Communications, in which it held that employers could not forbid employees from using work e-mail systems for union purposes during nonwork time. On Aug. 1, the board invited briefs on whether it should return to the standard under Register Guard, which permitted "neutral restrictions" on e-mail use.
Proposed Changes to Whistle-Blower Awards Should Foster Compliance
A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposal to strengthen its discretion to increase awards to whistle-blowers under the Dodd-Frank Act should prompt companies to bolster their ethics and compliance programs. That's despite the fact that the commission has simultaneously proposed decreasing the amount of its large awards because they are less common.
A separate “Space Force” is a bad idea…for now anyway
This week CNN reported that President Trump “signaled once again…that he wants to create a new branch of the US military dedicated to fighting in outer space.” Although no one questions the importance of space to military operations, the creation of yet another military branch is a bad idea…for now anyway. Today, the Air Force (from whose resources most of a new space force branch would come from) is the service with principal responsibility for military space operations.
Employees Secretly Record Managers for Litigation
As smartphones have become common, employees are recording work conversations without employers' knowledge or permission in preparation for discrimination, sexual harassment and whistle-blower lawsuits. These recorded conversations have included talks with co-workers, meetings with supervisors, and even discussions with HR and executives. State and federal laws limit employers' ability to prohibit recordings, but the Trump administration has loosened federal restrictions.
Employees Secretly Record Managers for Litigation
As smartphones have become common, employees are recording work conversations without employers' knowledge or permission in preparation for discrimination, sexual harassment and whistle-blower lawsuits. These recorded conversations have included talks with co-workers, meetings with supervisors, and even discussions with HR and executives. State and federal laws limit employers' ability to prohibit recordings, but the Trump administration has loosened federal restrictions.
Managing risks of telepsychology
Many psychologists are eager to use technology to enhance their practices, and the field of telepsychology is quickly gaining popularity. Clients and providers alike often value the convenience of using videoconferencing technology for the provision of mental health services, but as with all emerging interventions, there can be risks. This article will provide a brief overview of some of the things that psychologists should consider to mitigate some of these risks.
Would Rubio’s Paid Leave Proposal Help the Working Class?
Working-class families will benefit from legislation that would let them use a portion of their saved Social Security benefits during parental leave, according to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who introduced the bill on Aug. 2. Proponents of paid family and medical leave legislation that would tax employers and employees have criticized Rubio's proposal, however, as not comprehensive enough.
Employers Assess Risk Tolerance with Wellness Program Incentives
Employers designing 2019 wellness programs must decide what approach to take on program incentives without Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). The commission has a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking tentatively slated for January 2019.
Viewpoint: How Using a ‘Star Profile’ Led to an HR Success Story
Several years ago, one of my clients in the health care industry decided to create a new position: vice president of human resources. The company had grown to such a size that its executive committee felt the need for a senior HR leader. After conducting a nationwide search, the committee narrowed the candidates to two: Janet and Mary, both highly qualified, experienced HR professionals. However, the committee was divided on whom to hire.
Kraken Accepting MtGox Bankruptcy Claims and Giving Free Trade Credit
So, I have spent the last few days at the Kraken headquarters in San Francisco with the legendary Jesse Powell, who I interviewed for the Bitcoin Knowledge Podcast, and the rest of the team and there is some very exciting news about the $500m MtGox bankruptcy. We discussed some of the logistics during the interview but there is even more actionable stuff, as discussed in the trustee letter, you can do today to claim your money! SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
Congress Gives Trump’s Proposed Reorganization Mixed Reviews
Senators sparred over President Donald Trump's proposal to reorganize the executive branch, including combining the Department of Labor (DOL) with the Department of Education (DOE), at a July 18 hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Republicans welcomed the proposal, while many Democrats faulted it for being short on details. Sen.
McDonald’s Considers Appealing Rejected Settlement
McDonald's is weighing its options. A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge on July 17 rejected the fast-food chain's settlement of claims that it retaliated against and fired franchise employees who participated in protests for $15 wages and union rights. McDonald's disputed that it was a joint employer of the workers—a question complicated by a seesawing NLRB standard for who constitutes a joint employer.
Revocation of ‘Persuader Rule’ May Aid Union Avoidance
The Department of Labor's (DOL's) July 17 rescission of the so-called persuader rule solidifies lawyers' and consultants' right to advise employers on labor relations and train managers on what to say to educate employees about how employers stand on unionization. The DOL reporting requirements of employers who hire consultants to discourage unionization are now as they existed before the Obama administration issued the persuader rule in 2016.
SHRM Opposes Boeing’s Micro-Bargaining Units
Micro-bargaining units persist, despite a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision last December that overturned a standard that made it easier for small units to be established within companies. An NLRB regional director's decision, delivered in May, recognized small units within Boeing at a manufacturing facility in North Charleston, S.C., a decision that the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) opposed in a July 16 brief.
Paid-Leave Proposals Debated at Congressional Hearing
Proponents of paid parental leave squared off against advocates for paid family and medical leave at a July 11 hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has not yet taken a position on either proposal, noted Lisa Horn, SHRM's vice president, congressional affairs. Neither bill would have an impact on the patchwork of state and local sick-leave laws that the SHRM-supported Workflex in the 21st Century Act (H.R. 4219) seeks to address.
Viewpoint: Confessions of a Reformed Employment Attorney
On behalf of the employment law profession, I apologize to HR. Thanks to our influence, at many employers, human resources is neither human nor a resource. How did this occur? For most of our country's history, the legal system has been unfriendly to employees. Things began to change in the 1930s with federal labor organizing protections. In the 1960s, Congress enacted laws prohibiting discrimination against specified categories of employees.
Global Compact for Migration Slated for Completion This Year
Employers are making sure that their need for talent is reflected in the global compact for migration (GCM), an agreement that governments at the United Nations (U.N.) are negotiating to guide immigration policy around the world.
Background Checks Are Viewed Skeptically in Some Parts of the Globe
CHICAGO—In many countries, employers and universities don't understand why background screening is needed, according to Catherine Aldrich, vice president of operations at HireRight in Irvine, Calif., speaking at the SHRM 2018 Annual Conference & Exposition. What is a typical process for U.S. HR professionals—verifying past employment and education—is an unusual ordeal for HR practitioners in other countries. They may see it as invasive, unnecessary or rude.
Google Places Limits on Workplace Discussions
Google—known for its culture of open debate—has released guidelines saying it will discipline any employee who discriminates against colleagues or engages in discussions that are disruptive to a productive work environment, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Hold Managers Accountable for California Meal-Break Compliance
In California, businesses have to make sure their employees have a chance to take meal and rest breaks. If they don't, the penalties can mount quickly. Meal breaks can be particularly tricky. Here's how to help managers follow the law and ensure your business complies with meal-break requirements. Once trained, managers should be held accountable for violations. "Employers commonly hold their managers responsible for complying with and enforcing harassment and discrimination laws.
Take 7 Steps to Minimize Chances of Unionization
CHICAGO—The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Trump administration already has overturned much of what was accomplished under the Obama board—or is in the process of doing so. Timothy Davis, an attorney with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete in Kansas City, Mo., noted that the board has signaled interest in rescinding the "ambush" election rule but the threat of unionization remains.
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