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New York

Bosses, staff atwitter about social networking sites

06/05/2009

Bosses and employees have very different views of employee privacy when it comes to posting on social networking sites, according to a recent Deloitte survey. Sixty percent of executives responding to the survey said they have a right to know how employees portray their companies online, but 53% of workers said their off-duty posts are none of their employers’ business.

Lawsuits on the rise: Audit your policies to prevent litigation

06/05/2009

The economy is a shambles, and employers are doing everything they can to stay in business. That includes terminations, salary and wage cuts and temporary furloughs. Nearly every one of those moves carries litigation risk. Have your company’s personnel policies and practices had a checkup lately? A comprehensive audit is one of the easiest ways to spot problems.

Looking for work? NLRB has openings

06/05/2009

Cushy government jobs, but a lot of headaches await the successful applicants for two key government jobs. Years of political infighting may be coming to an end soon, as President Obama has sent two names to Congress for confirmation to become members of the National Labor Relations Board.

Rules of the road: Know when to pay hourly employees for travel time

06/02/2009
You don’t need to pay nonexempt employees for their commuting time to and from the workplace. That’s simple. But what if such employees occasionally travel off-site (or even overnight) for work reasons?

Immigration crackdown targets employers—not illegal workers

05/27/2009

Fulfilling a pledge President Obama made during the 2008 campaign, the Department of Homeland Security has announced its immigration enforcement activities will target employers that hire undocumented workers instead of focusing on arresting and deporting the workers.

Can being ‘overly friendly’ equal harassment?

05/26/2009

Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on sex, and sexual harassment is sex discrimination. Essentially, the law protects employees from harassment because of sex—and that can include same-sex harassment. But at what point do friendships among co-workers run the risk of slipping into dangerous territory?

Talk of one’s gay partner isn’t harassment

05/06/2009

Employers are rightly sensitive about the effects of any kind of sexually explicit talk at work. That’s because some employees are looking for anything to sue over. But now the 2nd Circuit, which has jurisdiction over New York, has handed down a ruling sharply limiting frivolous cases that could have set unrealistic employer obligations.

Being overly friendly isn’t harassment

05/06/2009

Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on sex, and sexual harassment is sex discrimination. That doesn’t mean, however, that every unwanted work relationship is sexual harassment. As a recent case shows, an obsessive interest, unrelated to sex, by one employee in another isn’t prohibited.

New York ranks 46th on business tax index

05/06/2009

New York finished better than just four states in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council’s (SBEC) Business Tax Index for 2009. The SBEC annually assesses the tax climates for business and entrepreneurs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Crack down on association discrimination before it lands you in court

05/06/2009

Does your organization allow or tacitly condone it (by ignoring it) when employees criticize a co-worker who associates with members of a different protected class? If so, you should be aware that disciplining that employee can bring on a lawsuit.