One of the many costs of doing business is maintaining Worker’s Compensation coverage for employees.  Employers can help control this cost by maintaining sound HR procedures and policies. This includes appropriate safety rules that are communicated to employees, posted throughout the work site...

Whether workers should be classified as employees or independent contractors is an important human resources issue and litigation in this area is likely to increase in the future. Recent cases indicate, however, that the courts do not have a uniform approach to the independent contractor analysis....

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, “outside sales” employees are exempt from the overtime provisions in the Act.  It would seem reasonable to assume, therefore, that pharmaceutical sales representatives who call on physicians would fall into this exempt category.  The United States Department of...

Employers that discipline or terminate employees for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons may still find themselves facing discrimination or other legal challenges to the decision. The best way for employers to protect themselves in these situations is to remember – Document, Document, Document!

Ev...

Regular attendance at work is an essential function of most jobs. However, there are many legitimate reasons why employees cannot be at work every day. In order to help control absenteeism, employers should have a policy that addresses issues associated with attendance. These issues include...

Whether an employer is required to provide rest and meal breaks is covered by state law rather than the federal wage and hour laws. As with many other state laws, rest and meal break requirements vary from state to state. This can cause headaches for employers who operate in more than one state.

Mana...

Hiring incentives, health care reform, rising unemployment costs and new protections for employees . . .these are but a few of the current human resources issues employers must address. Many employers, especially those with smaller operations, often do not have the time or resources to effectively...

Without a doubt, employers are struggling during these difficult economic times. Employees are struggling as well: pay cuts, layoffs and doing more with less affect employees in many ways, including morale. So in addition to financial concerns, employers may be faced with employee morale issues.

Pos...

When an employee leaves a company and owes the employer (i.e for uniforms, borrowed vacation or sick time, etc.), what’s an employer to do? Unfortunately, many employers believe they can simply withhold the amount owed from the employee’s final paycheck. In most states, however, that type of...

Ethical behavior by all employees is critical to the long-term success of any company. Statistics show that employees who believe that their company operates in an ethical manner tend to be more productive and stay with the company longer. One of the first steps in ensuring that a company is run...

The economic downturn has driven employers' unemployment insurance costs to record levels. The good news is that employers can control these costs by maintaining sound HR procedures. This includes an effective selection process to avoid hiring poor performers or bad matches who often...

On-line social media, such as social networking websites and blogs, can be highly effective business tools for sharing ideas and exchanging information. However, they can present challenges for employers trying to balance theresponsibility to monitor and respond to employee misuse of social media...

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently proposed a number of regulatory revisions. OSHA’s goal in requesting these revisions is to remove or revise requirements that are confusing, outdated, duplicative, or inconsistent. These proposed changes include a number of revisions...

Just because your company is not subject to FMLA because of its size (less than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius), that doesn’t automatically mean you will not be required by law to provide some types of medical leaves. If you have 15 or more employees, the “reasonable accommodation” provision...

Regular attendance at work is an essential function of most jobs. However, there are many legitimate reasons why employees cannot be at work every day. In order to help control absenteeism, employers should have a policy that addresses issues associated with attendance. These issues include...

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has issued a new interpretation of compensable time for workers changing into or out of protective clothing. This changes the prior interpretation that time employees spend donning and doffing protective clothing was not compensable under the...

Employers need to be sure that the candidate they hire for a particular position meets the requirements for the job. These requirements may include, among other things, a certain level of education or job experience. The sad truth is that some candidates lie on their resumes and/or applications....

Employers that discipline or terminate employees for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons may still find themselves facing discrimination or other legal challenges to the decision. The best way for employers to protect themselves in these situations is to remember – Document, Document, Document!

Ev...

Beginning in June, 2011, the Social Security Administration will begin changing the way nine-digit numbers are issued for Social Security cards. 

The numbers will be chosen randomly and the first three digits will no longer designate where a Social Security card is issued. Card numbers can start...

The U.S. Department of Labor recently said it plans to update recordkeeping rules on a number of issues, including worker classification. As part of this initiative, the Wage and Hour Division plans to propose new recordkeeping rules for employers this August. In addition, the Division is...