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HR Management

Switching payroll vendors? Have a Plan B

03/24/2009

Here’s a cautionary tale to consider if you’re planning to upgrade your time card to a high-tech electronic system.

DITO DITA … Do It To One. Do It To All

03/24/2009

Do you sometimes let employees bend company policy … just a little? It’s really no big deal, right? A new court ruling warns that if you start bending a policy for one, you’d better be ready to bend it for all. Being flexible can sometimes be fatal.

What counts as ‘full time’ under federal law?

03/24/2009

Q. We mostly have 40-hours-a-week employees, plus a couple of 20-hour part-timers. One part-timer asked me what constitutes “full time.” I think she wants to work the minimum and still receive benefits. Is there a set cutoff for full-time work under the federal overtime labor law?

What should we do in light of California’s new no-texting-while-driving law?

03/20/2009

Q. How does the new California law making it illegal to send and read text messages while driving affect employers?

9th Circuit will rehear massive Wal-Mart class-action sex discrimination case

03/20/2009

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to reconsider whether an enormous sex discrimination lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart will proceed as a class-action case.

When employees leave, so does company data

03/18/2009

More than half of employees who lost or left their jobs in 2008 took company data with them, according to a study conducted by Ponemon Institute and cyber-security software maker Symantec. A shocking 59% of respondents claimed they had copied or e-mailed company data.

Prepare for Michigan’s new workplace ergonomic standards

03/18/2009

The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth is one step closer to implementing workplace ergonomic standards that will apply to most businesses in the state. Most Michigan employers should plan now to comply. Only agriculture, construction, mining and domestic workers would be exempt from the new rules.

Crack down on association discrimination—especially if there are threats of violence

03/18/2009

Employers, beware: More employees are suing over so-called association discrimination, claiming their friendships or other relationships with black employees have resulted in discrimination against them, in addition to their acquaintances. Recently, the 6th Circuit came up with guidelines for when employees can sue based on their relationships with black employees.

Can I demand reimbursement of training costs?

03/18/2009

Q. I am a small employer. I invested a lot of money and time training a certain employee who just quit less than a year after I hired him. In the future, I would like to have all my employees sign an agreement stating that if they quit within a year, they will repay me at a rate of, say, $200 a month for the money I spent training them. Would this be OK?

75% will get raises this year, but they’ll be smaller

03/17/2009

Remember those rosy predictions last summer about how big pay raises would be this year? Forget about it! The global financial crisis has stuck a pin in that cheerful pay balloon. Three out of four employees will get pay raises this year, but for some, those increases will be the smallest in three decades.