• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly
Connection failed: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory

Pennsylvania

Requiring work during breaks: a $78 million mistake

11/01/2006

A Pennsylvania jury last month awarded a group of present and former Wal-Mart employees $78 million in damages because the mega-retailer forced the employees to work without pay …

You can fire managers who ignore harassment complaints

11/01/2006

The best harassment policy in the world isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if employees don’t take it seriously. To show your policy has teeth, you have to let it bite …

Check workers’ EEOC, PHRC claims for errors

11/01/2006

If you receive an EEOC or PHRC complaint, don’t jump the gun to answer the charges. Carefully inspect the documents. If you don’t question obvious problems now, such as lack of a verified signature, you lose the right to raise that issue later …

Staff who quit over benefit changes can earn unemployment

10/01/2006

Before making big changes to your benefit plans, calculate the cost savings against the possible cost of paying your share of unemployment compensation for employees who quit in protest over those benefit changes …

Attorneys’ Fees Added to Award in Wage-Collection Case

10/01/2006

The Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collections Law, the state law that requires you to pay workers on time, also says you must pay employees’ legal fees when you violate the law …

Union campaigns can’t invade employees’ privacy

10/01/2006

Unions, trying to regain the luster they lost over several decades, have embarked on aggressive organizational campaigns. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with their disruptive, harassing attempts to contact and organize your employees …

Court Reversal Preserves ‘Ministerial Exception’

10/01/2006

If you’re a religious organization, don’t be intimidated by employees invoking anti-discrimination laws as a way to protest your legitimate religious mission. When it comes to how you manage religious staff, government must keep its hands off …

Brace for surge in applicants; 23,000 coming off welfare

10/01/2006

Pennsylvania employers can expect to see more applicants at their doorsteps starting this month. The level of welfare recipients isn’t falling fast enough for the federal government, so the state must find jobs for thousands …

You may soon need a lawyer at unemployment comp hearings

10/01/2006

It’s enough to give employers a case of whiplash. First, Pennsylvania courts said corporate employers couldn’t hire nonlawyers to help them at unemployment compensations hearings. Then the legislature reversed course, passing a law that OK’d nonlawyer representation. That should have been the end of the issue, but not yet …

Pennsylvania Ranks Second in Attracting Out-of-State Students

10/01/2006

Employers in Pennsylvania have reason to celebrate: A well-educated work force is growing in your state. A new survey ranks the state second in the nation in attracting out-of-state students to its colleges and universities …