By refusing to hear appeals of lower court rulings, the Supreme Court effectively made same-sex marriage legal in a number of additional states. Here’s what HR pros need to know about the High Court’s latest move. As you know, the Supreme Court refused to hear three appeals cases that challenge rulings that struck down […]
Posted on October 21st, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 159 Comments »
Yes! A federal judge has just opined that an employee can be fired for “being an overall strain on Human Resources.” OK, so it’s not the only reason that Maria DFrancesco was terminated from her job as an accountant for A-G Administrators in Pennsylvania. But it was among the reasons — and (for the first […]
Posted on October 20th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 976 Comments »
File this under sleazy employer policies. The sandwich chain Jimmy John’s is catching all kinds of flack for a non-compete it asks its sandwich makers and delivery drivers to accept. We’ll let the non-compete do the talking for us: Employee covenants and agrees that, during his or her employment with the Employer and for a period […]
Posted on October 19th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 190 Comments »
Independent contractors (IC) can’t join unions. As a result, it’s in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) best interest to make it harder to classify employees as ICs — and that’s exactly what it just did. In a case involving FedEx drivers, the NLRB has added another factor to the test a lot of employers […]
Posted on October 18th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 33 Comments »
Gotta give Tyrel Oates credit. He’s taken a unique approach to increasing his salary — he wants all his co-workers to get a raise, too. All 300,000 of them. Oates, who works for a branch of Wells Fargo Bank in Portland, OR, recently sent his CEO John Stumpf an email asking that all employees […]
Posted on October 17th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 172 Comments »
Employers can breathe a sigh of relief. Common sense just won the day in a U.S. appeals court. In overturning a jury’s verdict, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit just ruled that being a “cantankerous” person doesn’t render one disabled and entitled to employee protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It’s […]
Posted on October 16th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 152 Comments »
HR pros will want to keep a close eye on a 401k lawsuit the High Court just agreed to take up — because depending on how this unfolds, employees may have even more power to come after their employers for charging excessive plan fees. The case the Supreme Court will consider is Tibble v. […]
Posted on October 15th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 179 Comments »
HR pros take note: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has taken its second wellness program to court. EEOC v. Flambeau, Inc. comes on the heels of the agency’s first wellness-related suit (EEOC v. Orion Energy Systems). Like the earlier case, the central issue is just what constitutes a “voluntary” wellness program. ‘Dire consequences’ to non-participants Flambeau’s […]
Posted on October 14th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 183 Comments »
Benefit plan sponsors need to be able to locate participants and beneficiaries for a number of things — notices, distributions, plan changes, etc. But what if you can’t find them? The Department of Labor (DOL) has just issued new guidance — via Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2014-01 — that overrides old rules governing what to do when […]
Posted on October 13th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 33 Comments »
You can’t make this stuff up: A white man was hired by two other white men and worked predominantly with other white individuals. And after he was fired by the white men, he sued his employer for … wait for it … race discrimination. Meet Tim Huter, a Caucasian male hired as a district manager […]
Posted on October 12th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 193 Comments »
