DVD for Sexual Harassment Prevention SAMPLE
WEBINER SAMPLE “Latest HR Management"
Memorial Day, the first of three popularly recognized U.S. summer holidays is coming up on Monday, May 28. According to holiday surveys, 95% or more of U.S. employers along with most government entities, banks and post offices recognize Memorial
Day as a paid holiday.
On May 10, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that Starbucks Corp. interfered with the rights of employees by forbidding them from wearing more than one union button at a time when they were on duty in the company’s stores (NLRB v. Starbucks Corp. d/b/a Starbucks Coffee Co., 2d Cir., No. 10-3511-ag, 5/10/12).
California has launched an online portal to help small business owners keep current on the state’s worker safety regulations and laws. The Small Business Portal provides easy access to the state’s free consultation services for small companies to ensure they have a safe and healthful worksites, the Department of Industrial Relations said in announcing the website April 30. A broad range of information, from how to register a business and proper payment of wages to how to comply with safety regulations, is available via the portal, the agency said. Other information helps guide employees on what steps to take if workers are injured on the job,
according to the agency. DIR Director Christine Baker called the portal “a valuable resource to small business owners,” who typically lack the resources to hire consultants. The Small Business Portal is available at http://www.dir.ca.gov/SmallBusiness/index.htm. 05.13.2012
Here’s yet another story to report on exemption misclassification. Review site Yelp! Inc. has agreed to pay up to $1.25 million to settle proposed class allegations that the San Francisco-based company failed to pay overtime to nearly 1,000 account executives, according to a proposed settlement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Larkin v. Yelp! Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 3:11-cv-01503, settlement filed 4/27/12).
Recently, I was watching an episode of an HBO series entitled, “Girls.” Although the series is smart, creative and funny from many perspectives, and certainly has more to do about being a 20 something and less about work, as an HR person I was suddenly getting angrily transfixed over a work issue. Basically, the main character, Hannah, who has been working as an unpaid intern in a literary agency for two years since she graduated is being exploited by her boss.
Labor Force Statistics from The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U.S. Employment Situation Report for April 2012. Table B – Selected Establishment Data, seasonally adjusted. The Report provides the following job growth or decline changes in thousands.
Labor Force Statistics from The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U.S. Employment Situation Report for April 2012. Selected information provided from Table A – Household data, seasonally adjusted.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the U.S. Employment Situation Report for March 2012 on Friday, April 4 showing a second consecutive month of disappointing new job growth. Although new job growth had been making good progress between late autumn 2011 and into the winter of 2012, the numbers began to slide beginning with the February numbers. However, many economists are saying that unusually warm winter weather pulled forward construction and manufacturing activity to January and February resulting in reduced new job growth from the spring.
In late April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidelines for employers on the use of arrest and conviction records by employers under Title VII.
The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced in mid-April 2012 that it is launching an enforcement and education initiative focused on the restaurant industry in the Los Angeles area to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping, and child labor provisions. In addition, the WHD announced in early April a similar enforcement initiative targeted at restaurants in the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area.
Wal-Mart has agreed to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to more than 4,500 employees throughout the U.S. for unpaid overtime according to the U.S. Labor Department. In addition, Wal-Mart will also pay approximately $464,000 in civil penalties for violating federal overtime laws.
On May 2nd, Maryland’s Governor signed the nation’s first law regulation an employer’s ability to demand that employees and/or applicants disclose their use name and passwords on internet sites. The new law becomes effective October 12 and applies to both
private and public employers in the state.
Seven large technology employers must defend accusations in a class action that they unlawfully conspired to fix employee compensation through the use of bilateral agreements, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on April 18, declining to dismiss employees’ claims under Sherman Act Section 1 (In re High-Tech Emp. Antitrust Litig., N.D. Cal., No. 5:11-cv-02509, 4/18/12).
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 25 issued updated enforcement guidance on employer use of arrest and conviction records in employment decision. According to an EEOC press release, its new consolidated guidance illustrates how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to various scenarios that an employer might encounter when considering the arrest or conviction history of a current or prospective employee.
The share of U.S. businesses expecting to add jobs in the coming six months has risen since earlier this year, while those reporting they have raised workers’ wages also increased, according to survey released on April 23, 2012 by the National Association for
Business Economics (NABE).
Unemployment rates have continued to slowly go down in several U.S. states since the beginning of 2012. On a national 
basis, there have been fairly strong labor-market gains over the past five months which have recently begun to slow with recent weekly data on new jobless claims starting to rise after going down for the past three to four months.
Total bans on cell phone use while driving are in place at 20 percent of Fortune 500 companies, according to a report from the National Safety Council (NSC). While there is no broad-based federal mandate for companies to ban cell phone use by drivers, the Department of Transportation has imposed restrictions for commercial vehicle drivers, and several states have their own restrictions. Last December, the National Transportation Safety Board urged all U.S. states to ban the use of portable electronic devices while driving.
Lawyers representing a pharmaceutical manufacturer and sales representatives who encourage doctors to prescribe the use of the company’s products squared off on April 16 before the U.S. Supreme Court, but they and a deputy solicitor general faced active and sometimes skeptical questioning about the Fair Labor Standards Act’s outside sales exemption and an appropriate interpretation of the act (Christopher v. SmithKlineBeecham Corp. d/b/a GlaxoSmithKline, U.S., No. 11-204, oral argument
4/16/12).
Golden Week, one of Japan’s biggest holiday periods, begins in a few weeks. Golden Week is a grouping of four national holidays that starts on April 29 and ends on May 5. This is the longest holiday season for Japan which makes it equivalent to a gigantic national spring break when businesses and schools are closed and people get an opportunity to venture out on holiday. Thus, this is the week to travel and get away. Flights, trains, and hotels are often fully booked despite significantly higher rates at this time. Many companies in Japan close down for the entire Golden Week and some even close for 10 days giving employees a lengthy holiday period.
Finally after several years of waiting, The California Supreme Court on Thurs., April 12 ruled in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Supreme Court of San Diego County that employers are not under an obligation to make sure their workers take legally required lunch and rest breaks.